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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26615428">Taking Chances</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineShal13/pseuds/SunshineShal13'>SunshineShal13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dani [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Development, Gen, POV Female Character, POV Male Character, POV Third Person</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:35:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>24,092</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26615428</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineShal13/pseuds/SunshineShal13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dani has alway been the cautious, look before you leap type. When she's rescued by the Doctor after an almost alien attack, she finds out that maybe, just maybe she needs to get out of her comfort zone...way out of her comfort zone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Dani [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936150</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote this fanfic 4 years ago on fanfiction.net, but I wanted to publish it here as well because I had started a sequel to it last year and am currently in the process of writing that one. This way, it makes more sense to the sequel if I publish this one first.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>25 year old Dani Burkhard locked her apartment door and walked out of her apartment building. She stepped out into the bright sunlight and immediately took out her sunglasses to put on. She walked the block or so to the bookstore that her mom owned and where she worked, and unlocked the door.</p><p>"Well I see you're already down here." She greeted Lola, her parents 2 year old Samoyed.</p><p>Her parents lived in an apartment above the bookstore and would let Lola down there when it was time to open up. Lola was a fixture in the bookstore and their regulars would always come and pet her. Lola barked happily in reply, wagging her white, fluffy tail and licked Dani's hand. Dani went to give Lola a generous scratch on the head and then went to unroll the blinds and turn on the open sign. Normally Lola would follow her, but this morning she sat facing the windowsill and started barking at something.</p><p>"What are you barking at?" Dani asked. She went to look out the window to see if there was anything unusual going on, but it was the same thing: people walking down the street, business opening up. "There's nothing there, you crazy dog." Lola continued barking and Dani shook her head as she continued to open up the store. She was unaware that soon, her life would change.</p><p>"Morning, sweetie." Her mom said, as she entered the bookstore carrying two tumblers of ice coffee. She gave one to Dani, who took it gratefully.</p><p>"Thanks, mom." She said, taking a sip of the delicious, cold ice coffee. Just how she liked it. "It's supposed to be in the 90's again today."</p><p>"If the heat keeps up like this, we may need to charge the customers for the AC." Her mom joked.</p><p>"Well meanwhile, your dog is going crazy barking at things that aren't there." Dani said, pointing to Lola, who was still barking.</p><p>Her mom shook her head. "That dog sometimes, I swear." She said. Lola eventually settled down and curled up on the windowsill, just in time for the first customer to stop by. She greeted the customers by wagging her tail and barking happily and was rewarded by pettings and scratches. The morning went by quickly and soon it was time for lunch.</p><p>"Ok, I'm headed to sub place. Any requests?" Dani asked her mom, and Andy, another who worked there. They gave her their orders and she went to go grab the food, unaware that in the ally near the bookstore, something strange was happening.</p><p>While Dani was getting the sandwiches at the sub shop, The Doctor was running around the TARDIS in his chucks, flipping buttons on the console. As he was flipping buttons, his eyes landed on a pink jacket strung casually over one of the coral pieces in the TARDIS and his two hearts sank. Rose, his pink and yellow human. He could remember the way she stuck her tongue out between her teeth when she smiled and her genuine compassion. Now she was in an alternate universe, but at least she was safe. That made him feel a tiny bit better, but he knew he would have felt much better if he had been able to tell her he loved her. He shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking of that now. He had adventures to go on.</p><p>"Where should we go then? Eh? He asked the TARDIS. The TARDIS made a small humming noise. She missed her pink and yellow human too. He pressed a few more buttons and flipped the lever and off he went to another adventure.</p><p>The TARDIS landed with a small groan and The Doctor peeked his head out and grinned. 21st century America. He loved traveling here. All the sights and sounds of a different country filled him with delight. He walked out of the TARDIS and went exploring.</p><p>In the meantime, Dani was walking back with the food and drinks. She looked in the alleywayh and glanced curiously at the blue box. She'd never noticed it before there. She chalked it up to a performance piece for some performance group and went back to the bookstore. She was struggling getting the door opened when Andy helped open the door.</p><p>"You know, you could have just knocked on the door and I would have helped you." He said, as she walked in.</p><p>"But that would just be too easy and you know how much I like challenges." She replied, setting the food down on one of the counters.</p><p>"That I do." He said, earning a slap from her.</p><p>"Food's here, mom!" She called to her mom, who came out of her office, on her phone. She mouthed a "thank you" to Dani and brought her portion back to her office. Dani and Andy sat down at one of the tables and dug into their food as they talked.</p><p>"So I saw the weirdest thing in the alleyway." She said, sipping her Dr. Pepper.</p><p>"What?" Andy asked.</p><p>"It was this weird, blue box. It said 'police public call box on the top."</p><p>"Oh! I've seen pictures of those." He said. "Apparently they were used in the uk in the 50's and 60's. The police would hold criminals in there while they called for backup."</p><p>"Interesting. I wonder what it's doing here." Dani wondered out loud.</p><p>"Who knows." Andy said. They continued eating until their break was over.</p><p>After that, everything was fairly normal, until someone came in. Dani was ringing up a customer, when she noticed someone coming in. She'd never seen him before, so she knew he must have been a new customer. He was wearing a tan trench coat (which she thought was way too hot to be wearing) over a brown pinstriped suit. He was also wearing a white button down with a tie that looked like it had some type of swirling pattern on it. He was also wearing beige chucks. He had slightly spiky, gelled hair and warm, brown eyes. Yup, he was definitely a new customer.</p><p>"Hello!" He said cheerfully in a British accent.</p><p>"Hi. Can I help you find anything?" She asked.</p><p>"Nope. Just looking around." He said, grinning.</p><p>"Ok. Let me know if you need anything." She said.</p><p>"Who is that guy?" Andy whispered, as they watched him walk around.</p><p>"I have no idea." She said. He was certainly interesting. Or at least he seemed interesting. She didn't know much about him, but what she did find very unusual was that Lola had started wagging her tail happily when she saw him come in. She normally kept her distance from people she didn't know.</p><p>The Doctor walked around a bit, looking at all of the books. He skimmed a few of them and was muttering to himself about how the events in the books were inaccurate when he noticed a white dog following him.</p><p>"Well, hello there!" He said to the dog, who started wagging her tail and licking him when he started petting her. He looked up to notice the girl working at the counter looking at the dog with a surprised expression.</p><p>"Uh sorry." She said "She's normally a little skittish around new people. I've never seen her act like that before.</p><p>"Ahh, well I must be special then." He said, grinning.</p><p>She smiled back. "That must be it." She said.</p><p>"Well, I must be off. Loads to do!" The man said, walking toward the door. "You have a lovely store."</p><p>"Uh, thanks." Dani said.</p><p>"Bye!" He yelled cheerfully and walked out the door.</p><p>She walked over to Lola. "Who was that man, hmm? And why were you so friendly to him and none of the other new guests?" She scratched Lola behind the ears and walked back to the counter, watching as the man walked away. "This is a weird day." She muttered to herself.</p><p>She quickly forgot the events of the day as she and Andy checked out people. Eventually, it came to be closing time. Andy waved goodbye and left the store. Dani was starting to clean up when her mom stopped her.</p><p>"Why don't you go home early." She said.</p><p>"Are you sure?" Dani asked.</p><p>"Yeah. It's fine. I can clean up. You need to go out and have fun." Her mom said.</p><p>"But I think you need help." She started.</p><p>"Go." Her mom said, pushing her out the door. "And you'd better not come in tomorrow on your day off or I'll tell your father." She said, half joking.</p><p>"Ok. I'm leaving." Dani said, laughing. "Love you!" She called out the door. She started to walk down the sidewalk, when she felt someone following her. She was about to walk faster when someone grabbed her hand.</p><p>"Run!" They said. "And don't look behind you!" In normal circumstances, she would have asked why, but whoever spoke to her sounded very urgent, so she obeyed and took off running with whoever it was.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they passed by a street light, Dani got a closer look at her rescuer and noticed that it was the man from the bookshop. Except this time, he didn't have a cheerful expression on his face. It was more like an intense determined expression. She felt like now was the time to start asking questions.</p>
<p>"Would you mind telling me what we're running from?" She asked, starting to breath heavily from all the running. She wasn't used to having to run for her life. To be honest, this was the most adventure she had. She was a very cautious, look before you leap kind of girl. So, there must have been something seriously wrong if she was doing this running with a complete stranger who she'd just met that day.</p>
<p>The Doctor looked at the frightened, human woman for a second and felt sorry for her. He had just grabbed her hand without any explanation of what was behind them and told her to run. "They're from an alien race called the Zurganites. They're mostly harmless, except for the little fact that they can suck out your breath."</p>
<p>"Oh, so kind of like a dementor." The girl said in a dazed voice.</p>
<p>"I think I can dismantle them with this." With that, he used the hand that wasn't holding the the girl's hand to grab the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He then let go of her hand and twisted it. The sonic let out a screech. Behind them, they could hear screams and then a thud. The doctor glanced behind him and saw that they were unconscious. "That should keep them down for a little bit." He then glanced over and noticed the girl's confused expression.</p>
<p>"Wha-? What was that?" Dani asked, very confused. First of all, she was grabbed by the hand only to run from certain danger. Second of all, this man used a weird device to knock whatever they were unconscious. Needless to say, this was a very odd night and she wanted answers.</p>
<p>"Sonic screwdriver." He said, tossing it up in the air and putting it back in his pocket. "Oh, I never got your name!" He said.</p>
<p>"It's Dani." Dani said, wearily.</p>
<p>"Nice to officially meet you, Dani. I'm The Doctor!"</p>
<p>"Doctor?" Dani asked, even more confused than she ever had been in her entire life. "Doctor who?"</p>
<p>"Just The Doctor." He replied. "And to answer your other questions, we need to go to the TARDIS." He started running, with Dani close behind.</p>
<p>"Wait! The what now?!" She called, running after him.</p>
<p>"You'll see!" He called back to her. They eventually got to the blue box that Dani had seen earlier that day. The Doctor pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and walked in.</p>
<p>Dani hesitated at the door. Granted, this man had saved her life, but looking at the box, she was sure that it barely fit two people.</p>
<p>"Oi! Are you coming in or not?" The Doctor called out to her.</p>
<p>"Ok, but I don't know how this will be able to fit another person." She said, walking in. And then stopped. And stared.</p>
<p>The Doctor grinned at the astonished expression on Dani's face. He always loved this part. "So, what do you think?" He asked.</p>
<p>"It's- it's bigger on the inside!" She finally said after a few minutes of staring in awe. "How is this even possible?! I mean, what is it? And who are you?!"</p>
<p>"Like I said, it's called the TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimension In Space."</p>
<p>"So it's a spaceship?" Dani asked, still trying to wrap her head around everything.</p>
<p>"It's more than just a spaceship. It can go anywhere in time and space." The Doctor said, chuckling at Dani's expression, which had now become even more astonished.</p>
<p>"Wait, if this thing travels through space, does that mean you're an... Alien?" She asked.</p>
<p>"Yup." He said.</p>
<p>"What exactly are you?" She asked, still trying to get over the fact the her new friend was, in fact an alien.</p>
<p>"I come from an ancient race called the Time Lords." He said, grinning, but Dani noticed that there was a bit of sadness in his warm, brown eyes. She didn't want to pry, though.</p>
<p>"So then, those Zurganites were aliens then?" She asked, in a scared voice.</p>
<p>"They were. although I'm not sure why they're here now." He said, frowning as he looked at something on the screen.</p>
<p>Dani leaned against the wall, which was humming a bit, and tried to make sense of everything. Like the fact that aliens did exist. She'd always wondered if they did, but never really thought about it that much. That is, until tonight. She also thought about The Doctor. When she'd looked into his eyes, there was something so ancient and knowing about them. Like he'd been through so much and seen so much. But yet, it seemed he kept traveling. And also apparently saving people.</p>
<p>The Doctor noticed her thoughtful expression and walked over to her. "Are you ok?" He asked, concern in his voice. "I know this can be a bit much for people."</p>
<p>Dani nodded her head. "I'm fine." She said. "But it is a lot to take in in one night."</p>
<p>"I can take you back to your apartment, you know." He said, walking over to the controls. "That is, if you want me to."</p>
<p>"I think that might be for the best. At least for now. I think I just need time to think about everything." She said finally.</p>
<p>"Ok, you may want to hang onto Something." He said, pulling the lever.</p>
<p>"Why?" She asked. Immediately, the TARDIS took off with a groan and she fell backwards. That was why. A few seconds later, the TARDIS landed, with another groan. Dani got up from the floor and looked at the door. "Are we?" She started to say.</p>
<p>"Yup. Take a look." The Doctor said, grinning. She opened the door and lo and behold she was back in her apartment.</p>
<p>"Whoa." She muttered. She looked back at the Doctor. "Thanks for everything." She said, and walked out the door. She watched in fascination as the TARDIS dematerialized. In its place was the white carpet in her living room. She shook her head. So much had happened and she wasn't sure how much more she could take. She also wasn't sure if she'd ever seen him again, but that was a thought for another day. She got ready for bed and once her head hit the pillow, she fell straight asleep.</p>
<p>"What do you think, old girl? Should I ask her to travel with me?" The Doctor asked the TARDIS as he took off. He wasn't sure if he could take on another person, especially after what had happened to Rose, but he was starting to get lonely. Plus, he knew the Dani was someone special. He'd somehow figured out that she was someone who was cautious. Maybe he needed that in his life. Maybe she needed someone to show her that it was ok to have adventures and to help her out of her comfort zone. The TARDIS hummed in response. She knew her thief needed someone to travel with because he wouldn't do well on his own. Plus, she liked Dani. She almost reminded her of her pink and yellow human. "Then it's settled." The Doctor said. He was going to ask her to travel with him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, Dani woke up to an odd sound. In her half awake state, she thought it was a car alarm and tried to go back to sleep. The sound stopped, but she couldn't get back to sleep, so she ended up getting up. As she got up, she kept thinking about whether the events of last night had all been a dream. She chalked it all up to a weird, sleep-deprived induced dream, and padded to the kitchen to make some coffee. What she neglected to see in the living room on the way to the kitchen was a big, blue box and a man leaning against said box, smirking because he knew Dani hadn't noticed either him or the blue box yet. The Doctor waited until Dani was walking past with her coffee to say a cheerful "Good morning!" causing Dani to scream and almost drop her coffee on the carpet. Ok, so maybe it hadn't been a dream.</p><p>Dani whirled around and glared at him. "Was that really necessary?" She asked him. "A normal person would say good morning before the other person has coffee in her hand."</p><p>"Well, in case you haven't realized, I'm not normal." The Doctor said, raising an eyebrows.</p><p>"Ok, true." Dani conceded. "Anyways, why are you here anyways?" She asked.</p><p>"Weeel, I wanted to see if you wanted to come with me." He said to her.</p><p>"You mean travel with you?" She asked.</p><p>He nodded his head. "Yup." He said, grinning. And before she could make an excuse about work, he added. "This is a time machine, so I can take you back to the same time we left."</p><p>Dani thought about it. Part of her really wanted to, but the other part was scared to death. She'd always been cautious and hated doing anything adventurous. But then she realized that she did need adventure. She couldn't just stay in her bubble forever. This was her chance to actually get out of her comfort zone... way out of her comfort zone. So, she decided to take a. "Ok." She said. "Against my better judgement, I'll do it."</p><p>The Doctor's eyes lit up. "Brilliant!" He said. "Let's get moving, then."</p><p>"Well first, I should probably change." Dani said, gesturing to the tank top and shorts she'd worn to bed.</p><p>"Alright, fine." The Doctor said impatiently. "But hurry!"</p><p>Dani walked to her bedroom. What exactly do you wear on a trip throughout time and space? She eventually settled on a tank top, Bermuda shorts, and her tennis shoes. As she was changing, she got a call from Andy. "Hey. What's up?" She answered.</p><p>"You need to get to the bookstore ASAP." He said urgently.</p><p>"What's wrong?" She asked, nervously.</p><p>"Just get here as quick as you can." He said, and hung up.</p><p>Dani quickly got ready and ran out of the room. The Doctor noticed her frantic running and noticed the scared expression on her face and immediately knew that something was wrong.</p><p>"What's the matter?" He asked as gently as he could with concern in his voice.</p><p>"I'm not sure." Dani said, her voice trembling. "My coworker, Andy called and said that I needed to get to the bookstore as fast as I could." They immediately got into the TARDIS. As soon as it landed, Dani bolted out the door, not even checking to see if The Doctor was following her and jogged all the way to the bookstore. She noticed a few ambulances and got scared, but tried not to think about it. She quickly ran into the bookstore, where chaos greeted her.</p><p>"What's going on?" She asked one of the EMS workers who was there.</p><p>"Who are you?" He asked.</p><p>"I'm Dani Burkhart. My mom owns this bookstore. Now can someone please tell me what's going on?" She glanced around and took note of people on stretchers with oxygen masks. Her eyes went wide as she noticed her mom on one of them.</p><p>"It's not a pretty site, is it?" Andy asked, walking over.</p><p>"What happened and why is my mom on one of the stretchers?" She asked, trying to stay calm.</p><p>"That's what I've been trying to figure out." Andy said. "All of a sudden, it was like some sort of possession. It looked like they were all having their breathes sucked out."</p><p>In the chaos, Dani didn't notice The Doctor slip quietly in. "Are they ok?! Is my mom ok?!" Dani asked, frantically.</p><p>"Most of them are. I was able to call 911 before anything major happened."</p><p>Dani rushed over to her mom. "Mom?" She asked.</p><p>"Hey sweetie." Her mom said weakly, lifting up her hand and brushing away her daughter's hair from her frantic looking eyes. "I'm sorry I scared you."</p><p>"I'm just glad you're ok." Dani said, hugging her mom as gently as she could.</p><p>One of the EMS workers walked over. "Sorry, miss, but we have to take your mom to the hospital." He said apologetically.</p><p>"Will she be ok?" Dani asked.</p><p>"Should be. We just have to keep her overnight for observation." Dani nodded her head and swallowed the lump in her throat as she watched them load up everyone and take them away to the hospital. Andy decided to go with them since he had been the one to notify them. She was extremely grateful for that.</p><p>After everyone had left, Dani sighed and sat down at one of the tables. It was then that she let herself cry. It was all so maddening, what had happened. Somehow in the back of her mind, she knew that it wasn't such a freak accident, which made the whole thing even worse. She thought she was alone, until she felt someone clear their throat. She looked up and saw The Doctor looking at her, concern in his warm, brown eyes.</p><p>"Are you ok?" He asked as gently as he could.</p><p>She shook her head. "No." She said in a small voice. "My mom could have died. Any one of those people could have died. And it was because of those Zurganite things, wasn't it?" She asked The Doctor, tearfully.</p><p>The Doctor sighed and pulled up a chair, sitting across from her. "Unfortunately, yes." He said, frowning.</p><p>"But what do they gain from sucking the breath out of people?" She said, her eyes full of questions. "What? Are they dementors?"</p><p>"Well first of all dementors are completely fiction." He said, coaxing a weak smile from Dani. "And they don't suck the happiness out of you. Just your breath."</p><p>"But why?" She asked.</p><p>"Ah, well." The Doctor hesitated. He wasn't sure if he should mention why they needed human breaths, especially the state that Dani was in right now.</p><p>Dani knew that the Doctor was getting hesitant and gave him a look. "Tell me, Doctor." She said in a steely voice. "Please. I need to know."</p><p>"Ok. Fine." The Doctor said in a resigned voice. He should have known that he would be getting another stubborn one like Rose. "They gain their power by feeding off of nutrients they find in the oxygen you breath in and out."</p><p>Dani paled a bit. "So do they normally, um, suck all breath out of a person?" She asked, afraid of the answer. The Doctor nodded his head.</p><p>Dani's eyes went wide and she let out a little squeak of fear and looked down at the floor. The Doctor looked at the frightened face of his new companion and felt awful. She was just a normal young woman who got caught up in all of this. He needed to tell her that everything would be alright.</p><p>"Hey. Look at me." He said gently to her. She looked into his kind eyes and was once again amazed at how ancient they looked. She wondered how much he'd seen and how much he'd been through to have eyes so ancient and knowing. "I promise you, I'm going to stop them." He said, seriously.</p><p>She nodded her head. Something told her to believe him and from the way his eyes looked, she did. But, there was still something bugging her. "I have one question. Why didn't they just kill everyone here?" She asked.</p><p>The Doctor looked pensive. "That's a very good question." He said, confused himself. Just then, Dani's phone rang. She answered it when she saw that it Andy. "Is everyone ok?" She asked.</p><p>"Everyone's fine. The doctor who's treating them told me that they all suffer from asthma and that it was just a freak asthma attack from the heat."</p><p>"A freak asthma attack?" She asked. The Doctor jerked his head up like he had an idea all of a sudden. "Well, thanks for letting me know." She said.</p><p>"No problem. And by the way, your mom's doing fine. She said to say hi and to not worry about her." Andy replied.</p><p>"Tell her I love her." Dani said. "Will Do." He said, and hung up. She put her phone back in her pocket and noticed The Doctor muttering to himself.</p><p>"Uh, Doctor? You ok there?" She asked hesitantly.</p><p>"Of course!" He said. "I can be so thick sometimes!" He bolted out the door, with Dani following close behind, yelling, "Wait! Doctor! What are you talking about?!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dani ran after The Doctor as fast as she could. She was beginning to sense that there would be a lot of running involved if she traveled with him. She continued running after him. They got to the TARDIS and The Doctor pulled a key out of his jacket pocket. He unlocked the door and they walked in to the TARDIS.</p><p>"So what exactly did you figure out?" Dani asked him as she sat on a chair while The Doctor walked over to the computerish looking screen attached to the console. From her vantage point, she could see the screen and noticed some odd looking circular type symbols.</p><p>The Doctor looked up from the screen and looked at her. "The reason that they didn't die was because the Zurganites can't feed on people with respiratory issues, including asthma for long." He said.</p><p>"But that's good, right?" Dani asked hopefully. "That means that it's less people that they can kill." Her hopeful expression faded when she saw The Doctor giving her an empathetic shake of his head.</p><p>"They may not have been successful last time, but there's a tiny chance that they'll come back." He said, gently. He hated having to give her the bad news like this.</p><p>Dani stood up in shock. "You're telling me that they're basically going to come back and finish the job!" She said, her voice raising in fear. "We have to do something! I mean, we've gotta stop them! How are we going to stop them?" She asked, in a frenzy. She was too worked up to really care about anything else. The fact that there was a chance that her mom could die if they didn't stop them was too much for Dani to handle.</p><p>"Whoa, calm down now." The Doctor said, trying to calm his frantic, new companion, who was currently pacing around the room, down. "We will stop them. If I can just pinpoint their exact location in the hospital, we should be able to get there in time."</p><p>Dani calmed down a little bit, but she was still very concerned about what could happened. The Doctor could sense that she was still frightened, especially since she was biting her lip, so he cleared his throat. "This may take a while, so why don't you go explore the TARDIS." He said to her.</p><p>"Really?" She asked, hesitantly.</p><p>"Of course." He said, grinning. That seemed to cheer her up a bit.</p><p>"Ok." She said, in a happier voice. She walked out of the room as The Doctor turned back to the console, his brows furrowed.</p><p>Dani wasn't sure where to go, so she just started to walk left. She passed room after room until she saw one that looked to be a library. She walked in and was amazed at the amount of books. "Whoa!" She said to herself in excitement. She took note to check it out later, as a bookwork, she took pleasure in reading and being caught up in book worlds. She continued exploring until she got to the wardrobe room. She saw row after row of period clothing and even saw a few odds and ends strung about, such as a long multicolored scarf and an umbrella, which looked to have question marks on it. She chuckled at the clothing selections and pawed through the clothing. She came across a purplish blue short sleeved shirt that was buried behind a few other shirts. It looked like it had been worn a few times. She wondered who had worn it and placed it gently back in. She was about to walk into another room, when the hallway on the right side was suddenly illuminated with light. She glanced curiously down the hall and decided to check it out. She noticed that the rooms seemed to bedrooms as she walked down the hallway. She noticed that one door was opened. She immediately knew that it was The Doctor's. The room was the same color as the TARDIS and had bits and pieces strewn about. There were a ton of gadgets all over the place. She smiled as she glanced in and also saw a pair of tortoiseshell glasses on the bed. The door to the next room had "Rose" written on it in calligraphy with a pink rose next to it. She wondered whose room it was but the door was closed. She decided not mess with it. The door was obviously closed for a reason.</p><p>Dani was about to go back when suddenly, the door to Rose's room opened by itself. Almost as if the TARDIS had wanted her to go in. She glanced into the room. Everything in her mind was telling her not to go, but for some reason, her heart was telling her to go in. She laid her hand on the wall outside and felt a small vibration. She also heard a hum that almost sounded like the TARDIS was crying. She was really curious to know who Rose was and why her door had been closed. She cautiously walked in the room and looked around. The walls were a hot pink color. The bed was unmade with clothes strewn on it and also on the floor. She looked around curiously, but then her caution got the better of her. She was starting to feel like this was too personal and quietly closed the door. What she didn't count on was accidentally backing into The Doctor, who had come to find her to tell her that he'd found out where the Zurganites were in the hospital. She gasped and turned around.</p><p>"Doctor! I'm so sorry. I swear I didn't open it. It opened by itself and I was just curious, so I went in to see what it was." She said apologizing, expecting The Doctor to be angry with her, but instead of being anger, there was sadness in his eyes.</p><p>"You don't need to apologize." He said, sighing. "I suppose the TARDIS would have shown you her room eventually. They started walking back to the console room as Dani brought up the topic.</p><p>"So, um, who was Rose?" She asked hesitantly, as they got to the console.</p><p>The Doctor smiled sadly. He knew that it would be a hard topic to bring up, especially the fact that he never got to tell her those 3 words that he'd wanted to tell her. And now he never would. But something about Dani's earnest expression told him to tell it, no matter how hard it was. "Rose was my former companion. We met when I blew up her job." Dani smiled a bit at that. Dani sat and listened as the Doctor told her all about Rose, from the very beginning, to the end when she got sent to the alternate world. When he finished telling the story, Dani wanted so much to cry. What made it even worse was that he never got to tell Rose that he loved her.</p><p>She appreciated him telling her that story because she knew how hard it must have been. She knew that she probably would have felt the same way if that had ever happened to her. She felt so sorry for this wonderful man, who she'd just met. Clearly, he carried a lot of pain around, but how much pain, she'd probably never know. She did the only thing that she could think of, after hearing a story like that. She went over and hugged him. He was a little bit taken aback, but hugged her back. Sometimes a hug is all you really need to let someone know you care for them and that's exactly what Dani was doing.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were still so many things Dani wanted to know, but she didn't want to pry anymore than she had. There was a bit of an awkward silence after that, so she cleared her throat.</p><p>"So, did you ever figure out where the Zurganites were?" She asked The Doctor, breaking him out of his thoughts about Rose.</p><p>"Yup." He said, popping the p. "They're in the basement. And they're starting to move. We may have to hurry this along."</p><p>"Ahh great." Dani muttered. "Well then, let's go save the hospital!"</p><p>The Doctor grinned as he pulled the lever. "Allons-y!" He yelled as theTARDIS took off.</p><p>Dani couldn't help but grin a little Despite the fact that she was about to face aliens, there was something exciting about doing this. Facing new dangers. She'd obviously never done anything like this before. It was thrilling. The Doctor looked at his new companion's face and knew he'd picked the right one. If anything, he could get her to be more adventurous, which was probably a good thing for her and him as well. The TARDIS landed with a groan as Dani was knocked to her feet and fell on the floor.</p><p>"You alright?" He asked as he held out a hand to help her up.</p><p>"Oh yeah." She said, grabbing his hand and hoisted herself up. "I've always wanted to fall down in a spaceship."</p><p>The Doctor chuckled at that as he grabbed his trench coat and opened up the door. "I should probably mention that they can go invisible." He said to her, as they found themselves in a storage closet in the basement.</p><p>"Oh, so now you tell me." Dani said sarcastically. "What are they? Ghosts?" The Doctor gave her a look.</p><p>"Obviously not. Ghost don't exist. Well, At least not in the traditional sense." He said as they walked out of the closet.</p><p>Dani was throughly confused and was about to ask what he meant, but dropped it. She would probably just be confused even more. The Doctor pulled the sonic from his pocket and was using it as a tracker to find the aliens.</p><p>"So, what's that thing called again?" Dani asked, looking at it.</p><p>"It's a sonic screwdriver." At Dani's confused expression, he explained how it worked. "The only thing it doesn't work on is wood." He said. "Forgot to add that."</p><p>"That's unfortunate." Dani said. "Will it help us find the aliens."</p><p>"It should." He said. "I should be able to track them with it."</p><p>Suddenly, Dani started hearing screams upstairs.</p><p>"Uh, I don't think we need the sonic." She said, trying to stay calm. "I think we just found them."</p><p>They bolted up the stairs into pure chaos. People were running around screaming and they could see others struggling to breath. Dani and The Doctor looked at each other in panic. There was no way this could be a good thing. Suddenly, Dani saw Andy running towards her.</p><p>"Andy! Thank God you're alright!" She said, hugging him.</p><p>"I'm fine." He said, "but clearly no one else is. All of a sudden it was like the same scene in the store, but magnified. I don't even knows what's going on. It's like a massive ghost possession or something."</p><p>"Trust me. It's not." The doctor said, walking up behind Dani.</p><p>Andy was confused. "Uh, who are you?" He asked him.</p><p>"Sorry." Dani said. "Andy, this is The Doctor."</p><p>"Uh, nice to meet you." Andy said. "So then do you know what's going on?" He asked.</p><p>The Doctor explained about the aliens and by the end of it, Andy was even more confused.</p><p>"Wait, so you're telling me that these are invisible aliens and they're sucking out breath to become more powerful?" Andy asked skeptically.</p><p>"Yup."</p><p>"How do you know this?" Andy asked. "Who are you?"</p><p>"It's a long story and now's not the time to go into it." Dani said. "Now, Doctor, are you going to tell us how to stop this or are we just going to wing it?" She asked, silently praying it was the former, but she should have known better.</p><p>"Both." He said, with a grin.</p><p>"Great." Dani muttered.</p><p>"So how are we going to see them?" She asked.</p><p>"Well, they have a perception filter on them so that no one can see them, but I think I can fix that."</p><p>He fiddled with the sonic and aimed it in the air so that Dani and Andy could see them. All of a sudden, there were creatures breathing in the breaths of those around them. They had pale skin and completely black eyes and they were bald.</p><p>"That's a creepy look." Dani said, shivering a bit. "What are they? Vampire ghosts."</p><p>"Well, their planet doesn't have any sun, so that's not much of a stretch." The Doctor said.</p><p>Dani was about to reply when suddenly, she felt herself being lifted up in the air. She started to scream, but felt herself struggling to breath instead as the alien started sucking out her breath. She felt herself start to slip into darkness as she heard a screeching sound go off. A small part of her brain told her that it was the sonic screwdriver as she fell unconscious. Andy grabbed her as she fell and gently laid her on the floor</p><p>A few minutes later Dani groaned as she heard voices around her. "I think she's waking up." She heard someone say as she struggled sit up, maybe a bit too fast because she heard someone else say, "Whoa, easy there. You'll make yourself dizzy." She slowly opened her eyes to see The Doctor and Andy looking at her in concern as they helped her sit up.</p><p>"Thanks." She smiled weakly at them. She started to say something else, but ended up having a coughing fit.</p><p>"Take some deep breaths." The Doctor advised as Andy patted her gently on the back.</p><p>Dani took The Doctor's advice and breathed in and out. Eventually, she started to breath normally again, with only minimal coughing. She tried to stand up, but was still a little bit weak and almost fell over.</p><p>"Yup. Not ready for that right now." She said, sitting back down again. It was going to take a bit until she got the strength back in her body. Hopefully it wouldn't take long, because she had things to do.</p><p>The Doctor looked at her with a mixture of pity and guilt in his eyes. If he hadn't brought her with him, she wouldn't have almost died. But he was going to do something about it. He wasn't going to let these aliens almost kill someone who he was protecting.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor stood up with such a force that almost knocked Dani, who had tried to stand up again, off of her feet. His concerned expression turned into one of fierce determination as he strode angrily towards the Zurganites, who were currently laughing with wicked glee. He wasn't called the Oncoming Storm for nothing. Dani and Andy followed The Doctor, the former holding on to latter as she was still a tiny bit weak.</p><p>"You just made a huge mistake." The Doctor said in a voice that was filled with anger as he glared at them. "You harmed someone I care and that is not a good place to stand. I refuse to let you harm another person!"</p><p>Dani shivered a bit. Granted, she'd only known him for 2 days, but it was a weird experience seeing him go from a goofy and kind to angry. The fact that he could get angry like that made her a bit concerned. She made a mental note not to get him angry.</p><p>"Ah, but you're too late." One of the Zurganites said in a low, gravelly voice. "It's already begun. Once we've fed off of all the humans, they'll be dead and we'll be more powerful to take on the world."</p><p>"But what you don't realize is that you won't be able to. You really don't realize that these humans have potential and you're depriving them of their potential and I won't let that happen. I will stop you."</p><p>"Like you were able to stop the great time war?" The Zurganite said with an evil sneer.</p><p>Dani saw The Doctor flinch at the mention of a Time war. She wondered what they were talking about that made him flinch. Obviously, something bad must have happened, but now was not the time to dwell on it, especially since she saw more Zurganites starting to descend.</p><p>"Uh, Doctor. I think we have a problem here." She said, glancing upwards in fear at the Zurganites.</p><p>"When I say run...RUN!" The Doctor yelled, and all three of them bolted from the room.</p><p>"Ok." Dani panted as they continued running. "Please please tell me that you have a plan, because I'm getting a little tired of this running."</p><p>"The Zurganites live in darkness all of their lives, one touch of the sun could kill them. So, we just need some sunlight to put on them and then poof!" The Doctor said as they continued running.</p><p>"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but the sun is setting, I don't think that there's going to be enough sunlight to touch them." Andy said.</p><p>"So there goes that plan." Dani said. She was looking at the signs that stated where each department one when her eyes landed on the dermatology department. "Wait a minute." She said, a grin spreading across her face as she got an idea. "The dermatology department!"</p><p>"What about it?" The Doctor and Andy both asked her.</p><p>"Hello! The light therapy!" The Doctor and Andy still looked confused so Dani explained. "Ok, so the sun has vitamin D, which is good for your skin, right? So, they use the light therapy to help people with skin conditions heal. It's just more controlled. So wouldn't that still simulate as sunlight?"</p><p>The Doctor's eyes lit up as he thought about his companions idea. "Oh, you're brilliant!" He said, hugging her. "I can't believe I didn't think of that idea."</p><p>"Well, I try." She said, modestly.</p><p>"So all we need to do is lure them up there, right?" Andy asked. The Doctor nodded. "and who's going to get them up here?" The Doctor and Dani looked at him for a second and he instantly regretted asking that question.</p><p>"I can't believe I agreed to do this." Andy muttered to himself as he was being chased by the Zurganites.</p><p>He ran up to the 4th floor where the dermatology department was. Dani and The Doctor were already in the room with the light therapy equipment waiting for the Zurganites. Andy came running in with them chasing behind him and ran into the light therapy machine like they'd planned. After they'd followed him in, he quickly ran back out and closed the door before any of them could come out. The Doctor quickly locked the door with the sonic.</p><p>"Now!" He yelled to Dani, who turned on the machine. They watched as it got brighter and brighter in there. They heard the screams of the Zurganites as they were burning. A few seconds later, there was silence. Dani turned off the machine and opened the door. There was a pile of ash where the Zurganites once were.</p><p>"So they really are like vampires." She said, looking down at the pile in disgust. "Well there's something I'd never see."</p><p>They started walking down the stairs and Andy asked who The Doctor really was. After The Doctor explained it to him, Andy was in shock, but quickly recovered when they saw everything getting back to normal. After they had helped out, Andy went back to the car and The Doctor and Dani went back to the TARDIS. They were quiet throughout the quick trip back to her apartment. The TARDIS landed with a wheezing sound and Dani opened the door cautiously and stepped out into apartment. Everything was the same she'd left it. She thought about the events that had happened in just 2 days and shook her head. It was all so surreal, but she knew none of it had been a dream. The Doctor stepped out behind her and closed the door. He chuckled to himself as he noticed Dani walking around her apartment and touching things. She turned around and noticed The Doctor looking at her.</p><p>"It's just so weird. We were fighting aliens less than 2 hours ago, and now we're back in my apartment." She said, looking around again.</p><p>"You know, you don't have to come travel with me." He said, with a sad smile, expecting her to say no.</p><p>"Oh no! I want to. Even know it was such a scary experience, it reminded me that this is exactly what I need to get out of my comfort zone, but I think I just need a bit of time to think everything over. It's all just a bit too much for me to take in." She said, noticing The Doctor's sad expression. In the back of her mind, she figured he needed someone to travel with him so he wouldn't be lonely.</p><p>The Doctor's face lit up. "Really?" He said, excited that she still wanted to travel with him. "That's great!" He walked back to the TARDIS and looked at her. "I'll see you soon, then." He promised as he walked in and closed the door. Dani watched the TARDIS dematerialize and sighed at she fell face first on her sofa. She knew that she needed some time to think everything over. A couple of days ago, she didn't even know aliens existed. Now, she'd just helped stop an alien attack with another alien. It had not been a normal couple of days. She fell asleep, fully clothed on the sofa.</p><p>A few weeks later, Dani was sitting on her sofa reading "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens, bookworm that she was, while Coldplay was playing through the speakers that her phone was plugged in to. The bookstore was closed on Sundays, so she always took that time to relax. That normally meant sitting on the sofa, reading while also drinking a glass of ice tea. In the past few weeks, everything had slowly gone back to normal. But, The Doctor hadn't shown up for her. Dani was beginning to think he'd forgotten about her and was starting to regret not going with him right away, but she was slowly starting to get over it.</p><p>She was curled up on the sofa, reading intently, when suddenly, a gust of wind started blowing around papers and the pages of her book in her apartment. She looked out the open window, but save for a small breeze, everything was still. She was trying to figure out where it was coming from, when she heard a strange but familiar wheezing sound. Her blue gray eyes lit up as she saw the TARDIS materialize. She threw the book on the coffee table and jumped off of the sofa as The Doctor walked out of the TARDIS.</p><p>"You're back!" She said, hugging him.</p><p>"'Course I am." He said, grinning at the expression on her face as he hugged her back. "You didn't think I'd promise you something and then take it back, did you?"</p><p>"Well, to be honest, I thought you'd forgotten about me." She said, shyly, looking down at the floor.</p><p>The Doctor looked a bit offended. "Of course I wouldn't forget about you!" He said, "I promised you I'd be back and I always keep my promises."</p><p>Dani looked up at him sheepishly. She really shouldn't have doubted him. "Well if you're ready to take me on, I'm ready to go on this big adventure with you."</p><p>"I'm always ready to take on someone new." The Doctor grinned cheekily. He noticed the book on the table. "I met Charles Dickens once." He said.</p><p>Dani went wide eyed. "You did?!" She asked in astonishment.</p><p>He chuckled at her astonished expression. "Yup." He said. "Helped fight off some aliens with Rose and I."</p><p>"Ok, now you have to tell me this story." Dani demanded.</p><p>He told her all about it as they walked in the TARDIS, where Dani was ready to start her new adventure of traveling time and space.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dani once again glanced around at the vast amount of space in the main console room of the TARDIS. She still couldn't believe how much space fit in one small box. She bet there were even more rooms in here than the ones that she'd found. The Doctor, noticing that his companion had been quiet for quite some time, looked up from the console and noticed her staring up at everything. He grinned and chuckled to himself as he leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, and put his chucks up. Dani heard his chuckle and started to blush.</p><p>"Sorry." She said, sheepishly. "It's just so amazing the way everything fits in this small box." She started walking around again, but there was still something that she wanted to know.</p><p>The Doctor grinned as he got back on his feet again. "You think that's amazing." He said. "Just wait until I take you to Izulod. A planet completely covered in ice." He said.</p><p>Dani was only partly listening. The other part was thinking of something she'd been wanting to ask ever since she walked in the TARDIS. She'd been wanting to know if the TARDIS was alive. There were certain things that had led her to that conclusion, such as feeling some type of humming sound and also when the door to Rose's room had just opened up like that, with no push or anything. But, there was a part of her that was too shy to ask. Or, she didn't know exactly how to ask the question without sounding stupid.</p><p>The Doctor noticed Dani's pensive expression. "You alright?" He asked with concern in voice.</p><p>Dani nodded her head. "I'm fine." She said. "There's just been something that I wanted to ask ever since I walked into the TARDIS, but it may be a stupid question."</p><p>The Doctor waved his hand. "Ask away." He said.</p><p>"Well, um." Dani hesitated. At the Doctor's encouraging "go on" glance, Dani continued. "I was wondering if the TARDIS, was um, alive." She said, finally.</p><p>"Why do you ask?" He asked her, looking at her of his companions had ever really asked him that question. Obviously, he'd explained about the TARDIS many times, but he didn't recall any of his companions asking specifically about it. Dani was certainly going to be a very interesting companion.</p><p>"Um, well, I guess because certain things kind of led me to that conclusion. Like the fact that I can hear it humming and also the whole thing with Rose's door opening on its own." She said. "I mean, I could be wrong, since you know, I've never actually been on a spaceship before so I have nothing to compare it to." She finished.</p><p>"That's actually quite observant." The Doctor said, looking at his companion with a slightly surprised expression on his face. He was impressed with his new companion's keen observant skills. "You are right. It's not alive like you or I are, but it's a sentient ship."</p><p>Dani listened in rapt attention as The Doctor explained about the TARDIS. When he was finished, she let out a low whistle. "Now, that's just awesome." She said, grinning.</p><p>"She is a good ship." The Doctor said, patting the console lovingly. "So." He said, looking up at Dani with a wide grin. "Where do you want to go?"</p><p>"Can we go to Ancient Rome?" Dani asked hopefully. She'd always been into Greek and Roman mythology. Plus, the architecture. She'd been to Italy on a study abroad program in college and leverything about it, especially seeing the colosseum. If this was her first time going to another time period, it might as well be something she was interested in.</p><p>"Oh, I think we can manage that!" The Doctor said, grinning as he put the coordinates in the computer and pulled the lever.</p><p>Dani fell on the floor again as the TARDIS took off. She decided against trying to stand up again, just in case she fell back down again. A few seconds later, the TARDIS landed with the same sound that Dani had come to associate with it: a wheezing, groaning type sound. Another thing that Dani couldn't get over was how fast it materialized. She supposed that with it being a time machine/ spaceship, that that was the reason, but still. It was impressive.</p><p>"Are we here?" She asked, as she got back on her feet.</p><p>"Yup." The Doctor said, as he grabbed his trench coat from one of the coral pieces. "See for yourself."</p><p>Dani cautiously opened one of the doors of the TARDIS and cautiously walked out, stepping on the cobblestone. Her eyes went wide as she looked around her. This was definitely not the Rome she'd been in a few years ago. For one thing, the colosseum was actually all the way intact, and for another, there definitely weren't any hotels or restaurants. Or at least not any modern ones. She took in all the bustle of everything and shook her head. She couldn't believe that she was actually in Ancient Rome. She never dreamed of being in a past time period. Then again, she never dreamed of meeting a time traveling alien either. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see The Doctor close the door to the TARDIS and lock it.</p><p>"So? What do you think?" He asked Dani, as he shrugged into his trench coat.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"It's just so...amazing!" Dani exclaimed in an excited voice. Overcome with joy, she gave the lanky Time Lord a huge hug that nearly knocked him over which was no easy feat considering that she was 5'2.</p><p>"Well, I see you're not excited at all." The Doctor teased as he righted himself and hugged his companion, who was currently looking a little bit abashed.</p><p>"Um yeah. Sorry about that. I may have been a little bit over excited there." Dani said, shyly. "It's just that never in a million years would I ever dream that I'd be in a different time period. It's actually kind of surreal. But I'm sure you've probably seen it all before, so you're most likely just used to this by now."</p><p>"Are you kidding? Its one of my favorite things! Well, this and bananas." The Doctor said, and started rambling on about bananas. He didn't realize he'd been rambling on for a while until he took a breath and noticed Dani looking at him with a confused and slightly bored expression.</p><p>"Right. Anyways." He said. "Shall we go explore, then?"</p><p>Dani's eyes lit up. "Um, yes!" She said, with a huge grin on her face. Needless to say, this was probably the most excited she'd been, even more than when she graduated from college.</p><p>They walked out of the alleyway where The Doctor had landed the TARDIS and started walking around the bustling town. Dani looked all around her took it all in. She heard vendors hawking their wares and people having conversations as they went about their daily lives. The odd thing was, was that they were all speaking English, which she was fairly certain was not a thing back then. She brought this up to The Doctor.</p><p>"Why are they all speaking English?" She asked him as they walked by a vendor selling some heavenly smelling bread and honey. "Shouldn't they be speaking Latin?"</p><p>"Ahh, that's because of the TARDIS." The Doctor replied. "It translates the language in your head. So they are speaking Latin, but it's coming out as English."</p><p>"Huh. Well I guess that would make sense." Dani said, nodding her head. She was slowly starting to grasp the fact that things were definitely changing in her life, but she was fine with it.</p><p>They continued walking for a while. From the sun's direction, The Doctor could tell that it was noon, or thereabouts. He suggested they get some food, and Dani agreed. She didn't want to say anything outright, but she was starting to get a little bit peckish, and all those vendors selling food and the food smells weren't helping. So, they decided to get a little bit of everything from one of the vendors. The Doctor paid for the food with the coins that were the currency at that time. Dani was curious as to how he'd gotten those coins, but didn't want to ask. They sat down on a stone bench and Dani bit into a piece of bread with honey on it, savoring the slightly salty bread mixed with the sweet taste of honey. It truly was one of the best things she'd ever had.</p><p>Meanwhile, The Doctor was pointing out different buildings that in the modern world were pretty much ruins at this point, but at that current moment were actually full structures. Most people might be bored with it, but to Dani, it was fascinating to hear him talk about them. She'd gotten the guided tour version when she had been in Rome, but it was different when you were actually listening to someone who'd probably been there when the structures had been built. She was a self-admitted history and book nerd, so that also accounted for her fascination for it.</p><p>The Doctor pointed out the colosseum, which was a few feet away from where they were sitting. "I helped build the colosseum." He said. "'Course it took a while to build because sontarons kept coming and declaring war. That was a hard time explaining to the Romans."</p><p>Dani looked at the skinny Time Lord and snorted, which caused him to look up. "What?" He asked.</p><p>"Nothing." Dani said, innocently. "I'm just surprised that someone so scrawny could help build something so strong." She said with an impish grin.</p><p>"Oi! I'll have you know I'm stronger than I look!" The Doctor said, slightly offended.</p><p>"Mhhm, sure." Dani said taking another bite clearly enjoying messing with The Doctor way too much.</p><p>"In all my 902 years, I don't think I've ever been so insulted." The Doctor said, still slightly offended, but also noticing that Dani was starting to be more comfortable around him. In some ways, she reminded him of Rose.</p><p>Dani almost choked on her food when he said how old he was. "Wait. I'm sorry. How old are you?" She said, looking at him with wide eyes.</p><p>"902." He replied, enjoying Dani's astonished expression.</p><p>"Whoa. No wonder you've been here before." She said, shaking her head. She figured that he was much older than he looked, but she didn't realize he was that old.</p><p>The Doctor was about to reply, when he noticed something odd going on. Everyone was rushing to the colosseum in a hurry. Normally, he wouldn't have been that concerned since there were bound to be events going on there, but not this early in the day. Dani was also watching everyone rush to the colosseum, but she just thought that there was a play or something else going on. She was about to ask The Doctor if they should go, when he flagged down someone who was rushing to the colosseum.</p><p>"Hello!" He called cheerfully to the man, who turned around with an impatient expression on his face. "Terribly sorry, but could you tell us what's going on?"</p><p>The man gave looked at them like they were crazy. "Where have you been?" He asked them. "The goddess Faenia is appearing to us today!" He said in an almost reverent voice.</p><p>"And uh, what would she be the goddess of exactly?" The Doctor asked.</p><p>"The goddess of birds!" The man said, with a "duh!" expression. He ran to the colosseum muttering about how he wouldn't find a seat.</p><p>The Doctor and Dani looked at each other with concerned expressions. "Doctor, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall reading mythology about any Roman goddess of birds let alone any of the gods or goddesses having an audience with all of Rome." Dani said, starting to have a sinking feeling in her stomach.</p><p>"You're right." The Doctor said, nodding his head. "There has never been a goddess of birds. There's a goddess of hunting and animals, but never a goddess of birds." He said in a thoughtful voice. "And obviously, it's just mythology, so there's no evidence of there actually being gods and goddesses."</p><p>Dani nodded her head. "That's what I thought." She said, confused. "Why would a goddess all of a sudden decide to show herself? It makes no sense to me."</p><p>The Doctor grinned. "I think we should see this "goddess" in person. What do you think, Miss. Burkhard?" He asked Dani, holding out his arm.</p><p>Dani hooked her arm in his. "Lead the way, Doctor." She said.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor and Dani walked into the colosseum and sat down on one of the stone seats. The whole place was buzzing with excitement as they waited for the goddess to show up. There were guards stationed at the entrances just in case anything unruly should happen. Dani leaned forward a bit and noticed something interesting going on in the main event area. A group of 5 young women about her age were gathered in a circle around a fire. They were wearing long white hooded tunics with blue on the ends of the sleeves. Even though Dani couldn't hear them, they seemed to be chanting something.</p><p>She leaned closer to the Doctor. "Who are they?" She whispered to him, hoping he'd have the answer.</p><p>The Doctor considered his companion's question with a thoughtful frown. The only answer that he could come up with was that they were some sort of group of priestesses, which was definitely sending warning bells in his head and making his Time Lord senses go crazy.</p><p>"They look to be a group of priestesses." He whispered back. "Although, the only equivalent of priestesses I know of are the vestal virgins. Now those were some interesting women. Since they weren't allowed to marry for 30 years, along with their duties as a vestal virgin, they were also given a higher up rank and allowed to do many of the things that other women of that time wouldn't be able to do." He continued talking about the virgins until Dani had to get his attention.</p><p>"Doctor, focus!" Dani said, clapping her hands. "So are they priestesses or not?"</p><p>"Right!" The Doctor said. "To answer your question, yes they are. Which is highly unusual for a goddess to have a group of priestesses. At least here." He knew that there was something going on, he just didn't have a clue as to what was happening yet.</p><p>The Doctor took out the sonic from his jacket pocket and was about to scan the place, when suddenly the people around them fell into a hush. The group of priestesses fell to the ground, still in a circle. From the fire rose a bird that formed into the figure of a woman. Her skin was the type of pale that can only be described as porcelain. She had waist length hair the color of a sunset that seemed to be flowing around her like a cape. Her eyes were a piercing orange color with yellow around the irises. She was wearing a long flowing gown that was the same color as her flashing orange and yellow eyes. On her arms were bracelets that snaked all the way up to her forearms. She also had orange and yellow wings that moved with her. Dani's eyes were wide with shock as she tried to comprehend what she just saw. Suddenly, the goddess Faenia spoke.</p><p>"My faithful followers!" She cried out in an ethereal voice. "I have come to grace you with my presence!" Cheers of "Oh, great goddess, we bow down to you!" could be heard as people started to bow and some even started to kneel and put up their hands. Faenia waited until the cheering stopped before she spoke again.</p><p>"My loyal followers, you have been so good to my birds. I am grateful that you have appeased me so much. You will all have a bountiful harvest this year. However, I ask for a small favor. In order for there to be a bountiful harvest, I must ask for the young woman to become priestesses."</p><p>At that, the crowd started to become restless. They were talking among themselves asking if it was really worth it having their daughters or wives become priestesses. That would mean they may never see them again, which was a bit concerning. Even the girls were anxious. Dani's heart broke when she heard some of them start crying. It wasn't hard for her to figure out that something was definitely off. Especially seeing some of faces in the crowds. These were faces of worry. Faenia took advantage of this moment.</p><p>"I will take the females by force!" She said, which caused everyone to gasp. Some even screamed. Faenia raised her arms and let out a huge hawklike screech that reverberated throughout the whole colosseum. The whole crowd whispered in fear, except for the girls, who were all of a sudden bending over in pain, their hands covering their ears.</p><p>"Of course!" The Doctor said, finally figuring out what type alien it was. He was about to tell Dani, when he heard a groan beside him. He turned to see Dani in the same position as the other girls, grasping her head and bending over in pain. The Doctor immediately went from being excited to being concerned. "Dani, hey. Look at me." He said, gently, trying to get her up.</p><p>Dani shook her head in pain. "I can't." She managed. "I can't focus!" She groaned some more as she tried to fight whatever was happening to her, to no avail. It almost felt like something was trying to take over her. She groaned some more.</p><p>An eerie calm landed over the colosseum and the girls stopped bending over in pain and got up. For a second, it seemed like everything was back to normal, as people started sighing with relief. However, their relief was short lived. The girls started walking, almost robotically down the steps. Their parents and/or husbands tried to stop them, but they brushed them off and continued walking. Dani was one of them, as she started walking down, not of her own accord. The Doctor, noticing this strange behavior, grabbed her arm and pulled her back.</p><p>Dani, again, not being in control of her own body, struggled to break free of from the Time Lord's grasp, but The Doctor, who had grabbed both of her forearms, held firmly to both of them so that she wouldn't run away. Eventually, she stopped struggling and stood there like a robot, which in a way was good for him because he needed to figure out what was wrong with her. Looking into her eyes, he noticed that they were blank and vacant, void of her usual sparkle. He scanned her body with the sonic screwdriver and looked at the scan, groaning inwardly as he realized that she'd been put into a trance. But, he was determined to get her out of this trance. He wasn't going to lose another companion, not this soon after already losing Rose.</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dani was too deep in the trance to just be woken up by a simple wave of the sonic screwdriver, so The Doctor knew that he actually had to go into her mind to wake her up, which was always tricky. He had to be extremely careful, because if he woke her up too fast, it could cause potential brain damage or worse. But, he knew it had to be done. He whispered an "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry" to Dani, and amid all of the crying and chaos that was happening around them, he put his fingers to her temples and closed his eyes, entering her mind. He probed her mind, avoiding any of her personal thoughts.</p><p>The Doctor found the correct spot that he needed to be in in order to wake Dani up, but he realized that the only thing that he needed to do was create a wall to block the signal, considering that she was struggling to break out of her trance. She definitely had a fighting spirit. He put the wall up and left her mind. It would take a little bit of time for it to work, but in the meantime, he thought he'd give her some encouragement.</p><p>"C'mon, Dani." He said, looking at her still vacant expression. "I know you're strong enough to break through this trance. I saw you fighting it. You can do it." The Doctor saw a glimpse of something in her eyes and knew she was going to be ok.</p><p>A few seconds later, whether it was the fact that Dani had succeeded in winning the inner battle with herself, The wall that The Doctor had put up in her head, his encouraging words, or a combination of both, Dani started to come out of her trance. "Wha- what? What just happened" She asked, blinking and holding her head as she started to sway a bit.</p><p>"Whoa. Easy there." The Doctor said, as he helped ease her back down on the seat. "You just came out of a trance, so you may be a little bit shaky for a bit. But, other than that, how are you feeling?"</p><p>Dani sighed and ran her hand through her hair. Of all the things that could have happened, being in a trance was better than dying. "Well, other than a really bad headache and feeling like I'd keel over if I tried to stand, I'm doing pretty good." She said.</p><p>"I can help with that headache. Hang on." The Doctor waved the sonic over her body for the second time that day, curing her massive headache, but also making sure that she was actually fine. After checking the scans, he concluded that she was back to herself.</p><p>"That's the fastest a headache of mine has ever gone away." Dani said, impressed with the sonic. "I mean, I know it doesn't do wood, but does it do everything else."</p><p>"Pretty much." The Doctor said, putting the sonic back in his pocket. "Well, except for killing. That it doesn't do. Anyways, I'm sure you have some questions."</p><p>"Actually, yeah. First of all, how did I get into the trance anyways, and how did I get out of it?" Dani asked.</p><p>"Well, to answer your first question, the reason you were in the trance in the first place was because of Faenia. The screech that she let out was a high enough frequency to affect you and the other girls, but not anyone else." The Doctor said, inevitably waiting for the next question that would come, because it was bound to happen anyways.</p><p>"Ok, so obviously she's not actually a goddess, so then is she an alien?" Dani asked.</p><p>The Doctor nodded his head. "Yup." He said. "She's from a species called the kura. Their true forms are bird like in nature, but they're shapeshifters. Beautiful creatures. They're very peaceful, so she must be a rouge one."</p><p>Dani nodded her head, then moved on to the other issue at hand. How on earth she'd gotten out of the trance. "Ok, I'm going to want to revisit that again, but I really wanna know how on earth I got out of that trance. Granted, I've never been in one, but they can't be that easy to get out of." She said, trying to remember what exactly had happened.</p><p>"I'm going to answer your question, but first, I need to know something. Do you remember anything at all while you were under?" The Doctor asked Dani, hiding back a small grin.</p><p>Dani tried to recall what had happened. "I remember something taking over me and being scared that I didn't have control of my body." She shivered as she flashed back. It was one of the scariest things she'd gone through.</p><p>"But then it almost felt like there was a wall that ended up in my mind that was in between me and whatever was controlling me. Almost like someone placed it there, because it felt like there was someone else in my mind helping me..." She trailed off when she realized who that was and looked at the Doctor, who now had a full on grin, in shock. "It was you!" She said. "You were the one who put that wall up, and was helping me weren't you?!"</p><p>"'Course it was!" The Doctor replied cheekily. "How else was I going to get you back to normal that quickly? Honestly, that was the only way to wake you up."</p><p>"So wait. You're telling me that you have the ability to go into people's minds?" Dani asked him, still trying to wrap her mind around yet another strange thing.</p><p>"Well, it's more like telepathy, but yup. It's one of the abilities of my species." The Doctor replied. "And I promise you, all your private thoughts are still yours. I just went in there to help get you out of that trance and build a wall in there so it wouldn't happen again."</p><p>"I just... Wow." Dani murmured, shaking her head in shock. She definitely was learning more and more about her new friend. It was official, if she didn't know it then, she certainly knew it now. Her life was definitely never going to be the same ever again.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor and Dani watched as everyone around them started leaving. They were talking to each other as they walked down the steps. Dani could tell that they were deeply saddened, but they couldn't do anything about it. She caught some conversations about how it was the goddess' will and as much as it pained them, it was an honor to serve a god or goddess. Eventually the colosseum emptied and it was just her and the Doctor. Well, them and a couple of guards who were guarding the entrance to where the girls had entered, but they didn't know that.</p><p>"I can't believe they're not more surprised." Dani wondered out loud, watching the last person walk out. "How can they just accept that their daughters or wives are now following some goddess?"</p><p>"You have to realize that in this time period, any god or goddess showing themselves to the Romans is a huge deal." The Doctor explained. "So, they most likely believe that there's a higher purpose for their daughters and therefore have to accept their fates."</p><p>Dani considered this. "It does make sense." She said. "But that doesn't answer what Faenia wants them for."</p><p>The Doctor actually didn't have an answer for that one, which really irritated him. "That I don't know, but we're going to find out! Come on!" He said, jumping up and pulling his companion to her feet.</p><p>Dani followed the Doctor down until they reached the end of the steps. They walked down a narrow, curvy path into a dark tunnel. Dani shivered a bit as they walked through the tunnel. She almost expected something to jump out at them, but luckily, nothing did. They finally reached the end of the tunnel and turned one more corner. They ended up near a pair of doors guarded by guards.</p><p>"Wait! How are we going to get in?" Dani whispered as she followed the Doctor "In case you haven't noticed, there are guards guarding the entrance. I highly doubt they're going to be pleased with us getting in there."</p><p>The Doctor pulled the psychic paper out of his pocket, turned around and showed it to Dani. "With this." He said, matter of factly.</p><p>Dani looked at it curiously. "It looks like a plain piece of paper to me." She said. It really didn't look that special but as she was learning recently, she needed to stop taking things at face value.</p><p>"Oh, it's much more than that." The Doctor said, grinning. "It's psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want. Very useful in tight spots."</p><p>"Right. Sure." Dani said, earning a chuckle from the Time Lord.</p><p>They walked towards the doors and the Doctor showed the guards the paper. The guards bowed a bit and opened up the doors. Dani was a bit blown away at that. "Who did they think we were?" She asked in awe as they entered.</p><p>"Apparently members of one of the patrician families." The Doctor said, looking at the psychic paper.</p><p>Dani shook her head in wonder as they walked through a narrow hallway. So far, they hadn't run into anyone other than the guards, but it was only a matter of time before they did run into anyone. However, what they didn't notice was a white hooded figure staring at them through an opening.</p><p>"I wonder where they would be." Dani mused. She was hoping to find them soon. Not that this running wasn't good for her, but she really wanted to take a small breather.</p><p>"I should be able to track where they are with the sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said. But just as he was about to get the sonic from his pocket, he was interrupted by a scream next to him. He whirled around to find Dani being grabbed by 2 pairs of hands. "Dani!" He yelled out</p><p>"Doctor! Help me!" She screamed, but before he could do anything, she was pulled through the opening. "Let go of me!" She yelled, but whoever had her wasn't listening.</p><p>She wasn't going to make it easy for her captors, though. She was kicking and screaming all the way as they dragged her through the hallway. When they passed a candlelit hallway, Dani noticed that it was one of the women who had been chosen. So, she tried talking to her.</p><p>"Please let me go." Dani pleaded with the woman. She looked into her eyes and noticed a blank, vacant expression, and praised God silently that the Doctor had saved her before she became like the other women. "Look, I know you can break out of this trance. Just think of the people you love!" But the woman wasn't listening.</p><p>"I must take you to the goddess." The woman said in a monotone voice. "You have betrayed her and therefore must face the consequences."</p><p>Dani sighed. She clearly wasn't going to get through to this girl. Right now, her only choice was to wait for the Doctor to get to her. In the meantime, the Doctor was frantically running to find Dani, his two hearts beating fast. He knew he had to get to her fast before anything bad happened to her. He scanned the sonic screwdriver around and with an "Aha!", started running towards the room that she was in. Dani was led to a room where she was unceremoniously thrown on a wooden board and tied to it.. She craned her neck up and looked around the room and noticed that there were candles everywhere, which she supposed made sense, considering the fact that there was no electricity at that time.</p><p>"Ahh, so the human rebel has decided to grace us with her presence." Faenia said. "Thank you for capturing her, little one." She said to the girl, who bowed. "You will be rewarded greatly." The girl walked away and Faenia walked over to Dani, who had managed to sit up. "Now." She said, "You are not from this time period, are you?"</p><p>Dani shivered as she looked into Faenia's eyes. Despite being the color of a sunrise, there was definitely coldness to them. "Really?" Dani retorted, glaring. "What gave you that idea? The fact that I'm wearing 21st century clothing? That might do it." She was trying to stay calm, but part of her was scared to death about what would happen.</p><p>"Silence! Insolent child! You will be sacrificed for your betrayal!" Faenia yelled. "I'm afraid that no one will be able to get you out of this." She said with a wicked grin.</p><p>Dani paled, but held her composure. "Really? Because I beg to differ. I know that someone is coming for me and I'd highly doubt they'd be happy to find me tied up and about to die." She said, in a shaky but determined voice. She was really hoping that the Doctor would be able to find her in time.</p><p>"Hah. You are bluffing. There is not one person coming for you." Faenia said, laughing. "You will die soon."</p><p>"Actually, she's not bluffing." Said a voice from the doorway that made Dani silently sigh with relief.</p>
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<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dani craned her neck as far as it could go, but despite her best efforts, she couldn't see where the Doctor was. She knew he was there, though. Considering that she'd just heard him. Unless she was hearing things. But, considering that everything had become silent, she decided that she wasn't hearing things. Which was a huge relief to her, since she was ready to get out of these ropes. But, she was also extremely terrified. What if something happened to her before he could even get to her? She closed her eyes and let out a breath, trying to calm herself down. She was overreacting and she knew it. She'd get out of this and then they'd save the girls and everything would be fine. Or, so she hoped.</p><p>In the meantime. the Doctor was leaning casually against the doorframe. With his superior eyesight, he could see Dani tied up on a wooden board. Even though there were many candles around the room, there wasn't enough light to brighten up the room. However, he could still see Dani's face. He noticed that despite her determined expression, there was definite fear there. "How are you doing there, Dani?" He called out, hoping to reassure her.</p><p>"Oh, just peachy." She said, sarcastically. "But I'd be even peachier if I could get out of this rope."</p><p>"That will never happen." Faenia said, with a sneer. "It is made out of the finest and strongest straw and tied so tightly that even you won't be able to save her. The sacrifice will still happen."</p><p>"Well, never say never." The Doctor said, walking towards Dani. He aimed the sonic at one of the ropes tied around one of Dani's wrists. It took a bit, but eventually it frayed enough that it fell off on its own. He did that again with the other three until she was fully free.</p><p>"Thanks." Dani said, gratefully, sitting up slowly and rubbing her wrists. "For a second there, I was really concerned I wouldn't make it to my 26th birthday."</p><p>"Ah, I wouldn't let anything happen to you. You should know that." The Doctor replied sincerely, looking at his companion, who was looking a bit sheepish. "Now, how are you doing?" He asked seriously.</p><p>"Well, other then some rope burns and feeling a little bit dizzy, I'm doing fine now." Dani said. The Doctor helped her down gently to the ground and she was able to stand without getting dizzy. With all that had happened to her, there was a part of her that was starting to regret traveling with him. She knew that she didn't want to stop, though. She'd been changed and knew that it was for the best.</p><p>Meanwhile, Faenia was spitting mad. "What is that technology?!" She shrieked." "And who are you?! You're certainly not human!"</p><p>"That would be the sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said, placing the sonic back into his pocket. "And to answer your other two questions, I'm the Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey."</p><p>"But that's impossible! Your species is extinct!" Faenia said.</p><p>"Yep. They are." The Doctor said causally, trying to ignore the shocked expression on Dani's face. He was probably going to have to explain what happened to his people now, thanks to Faenia. "There's only me."</p><p>Dani was still in a little bit of shock. That explained why he flinched when the Zurganite had mentioned the time war. She started to put 2 and 2 together and realized that the time war and the fact that he was the last of his kind were somehow connected. She didn't know exactly how, but it explained why there was so much sadness and regret in his eyes. Her heart broke again for him. First he lost his people and then he lost the love of his life. How he managed to still save people and have humor, she had no idea, but something must be giving him the determination to go on.</p><p>"Now." The Doctor said, jumping up and breaking Dani out of her reverie. "If I'm correct, it's very rare for your species to show their true forms anywhere, especially in a different time period. So, my question is why are you doing that?"</p><p>"Hah! My race is pathetic!" Faenia spat out. "They're too peaceful for their own good! They don't realize that there's so much power in our forms, especially showing them to those puny humans. Humans will believe anything."</p><p>Dani, who bristled at the "puny humans" and who was already angry about a lot of things that had currently happened, was about to give her a piece of her mind, but the Doctor gave her a look and shook his head. He knew that she was about to say something that would probably get them in trouble. Dani shut her mouth and kept silent, but she glared at Faenia, who didn't seem fazed at all.</p><p>"Wellll, I wouldn't exactly say that about every human. Now, why Ancient Rome? Seems to me you could go anywhere else." The Doctor said, actually interested in the answer.</p><p>"Because. With their unfailing belief in gods and goddesses, I knew that they wouldn't have a hard time accepting me as a goddess. It was quit easy really. I just showed myself to someone and they spread the news." Faenia replied.</p><p>"But why did you need the girls?" Dani burst out. She couldn't hold it in any longer. "What possible reason could you need them?"</p><p>"Ahh. That's the best part. I needed some high priestesses and I knew they wouldn't come willingly and leave their families, so that's why I put them in a trance. I plan to train them in war. Soon they will invade the city. And then when they die, I can absorb their youth."</p><p>That did it. Very few things made Dani extremely angry, but an alien saying she was sacrificing these poor innocent girls just for youth apparently was one of the things. "So, you're just using these girls for war. It doesn't matter if they die. All you want them for is so you can be young? What the h*** is wrong with you?!" Dani yelled angrily. "And you're taking advantage of these people. You are so messed up."</p><p>She was so angry that she started to lunge for Faenia. Luckily, the Doctor grabbed her in time and pulled her back before she could get hurt. "Whoa there." He said, still trying to hold her back. "Might I suggest not trying to kill her?" He asked.</p><p>"But you heard what she said!" Dani said indignantly. "She's using everyone for her own gain. Why can't we just kill her?"</p><p>"Because that's not how we do things." The Doctor said calmly. "I need to talk to her first."</p><p>"Fine." Dani said, finally calming down, but now it was the Doctor's turn to be angry.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor strode over to Faenia. He was definitely starting to get angry. Two of the reasons being that she'd almost harmed Dani twice and had caused her to want to kill her, among other things. But, also because he wasn't going to let her put these girls to battle and have them killed. He knew that at least one of these girls was going to be someone important and if any of them got killed, it would change the course of history. Dani was watching all of this happen and once again marveled at how he could go from actually casual or even humorous to angry just in one step.</p><p>"Let these girls go." The Doctor said in a low voice laced with anger. "I won't let you harm these girls anymore than you have already."</p><p>Faenia was definitely afraid, but she covered it up well. "What are you going to do?" She mocked. "I know you won't kill me because it's not in your nature. You have nothing left."</p><p>"Let them go and I'll take you back to your planet where you can have a fair trial." The Doctor said, still glaring.</p><p>"That won't be necessary, Doctor." A lyrical voice said behind him.</p><p>Both Dani and the Doctor turned around. Dani gasped at what she was seeing. Standing there was a woman, or she assumed she was a woman. She looked exactly like Faenia, except when Faenia looked like the color of a sunset, this woman looked like the color of the ocean. She had long, beautiful light blue hair that changed into dark blue hair at the end and was wearing a long, light blue dress. Her wings were a dark blue color and her eyes were a tealish blue. However, when there was coldness in Faenia's eyes, this woman's eyes were filled with warmth and kindness. Dani shook her head in awe. She didn't think she'd ever get used to this. The Doctor however, wasn't fazed at all.</p><p>"Ah, hello Moriana!" The Doctor said, cheerfully. "Lovely to see you again."</p><p>"You as well, Doctor." Moriana said with a small smile and a nod of her head. "I don't think I ever thanked you properly for saving us from the Sontarons."</p><p>"Ahh, it was nothing." The Doctor said, modestly. He noticed Dani staring and figured he should introduce her. "Right!" He said, "Moriana, this is Dani, my companion. "Dani, this is Moriana, the leader of the Kura."</p><p>"Um, hi." Dani said in a dazed voice, still staring at Moriana. She was amazed at what she was seeing. Moriana was even more beautiful than Faenia. Plus, it may have helped that she wasn't a power hungry alien.</p><p>"Hello." Moriana said in the same lyrical voice, smiling at Dani. She then turned to Faenia . "Faenia, sister. Get these girls out of their trances right now. You know that's not how we use our power." She pleaded.</p><p>"Do you think I care, sister?" Faenia spat out. "You know as well as I do that we can do anything with this power. But you? You choose to hide it. Pathetic. I should have been the one to lead our people when mother retired. Not you. If I were in charge, we would be much more powerful and have taken over weaker planets."</p><p>"So that's what this is about?" Moriana said. "You are jealous that mother elected me? So you come here and pretend to be a goddess just so you can get praise?"</p><p>The Doctor and Dani watched this little family interaction with amusement. Clearly Faenia was jealous that her sister was the leader of their planet now. It seemed to Dani that she was trying to compete in some way. There was some sibling jealously there. Dani could understand that. She had an older sister and while she loved her sister to death, she always seemed to be living in her shadow. More so when she was in school. Her sister was smarter than her and she was always the poplar one in school whereas while Dani wasn't unpopular, she kind of faded in the background. But, she wouldn't pretend that she was something she wasn't just to gain people's approval.</p><p>"And you can't do anything about it. I know you won't." Faenia said with a sneer. "I'm your twin sister and you're too weak and too sentimental and to peaceful to do anything to me."</p><p>Moriana's expression went from pleading to anger. "That's where you're wrong, sister." She said in a quiet voice that sent chills down Dani's spine. "You may be my sister and I will always love you, but I cannot condone you enslaving these girls and getting them killed. Because of your crimes, you will come back with me where you will stand trial. And I can assure you that it will be the highest punishment you can imagine." She finished, glaring at her sister, who's face had gone even whiter than it already was.</p><p>"Um, what's the highest punishment there?" Dani whispered fearfully to the Doctor, expecting the worst. She wasn't a fan of Faenia's but she didn't want her to die.</p><p>"Their powers get stripped and they live the rest of their lives out in solitude on one of the smaller islands." The Doctor whispered back, immediately noting that Dani's expression had gone from worried to relieved.</p><p>"Now, I'm going to remove the girls' trances since you obviously won't do it." Moriana said. "But first, I'm going to make sure you don't fly or get away." She rose her arms up in the air and a blue smoke enveloped Faenia, who screamed. A second later, the smoke cleared and Faenia's wings were tied together while her wrists were shackled. Since she couldn't do anything, she glared at Moriana.</p><p>"And now for the best part." Moriana said again, winking at Dani. She opened her mouth up and the sweetest sound came out of it. It was such a beautiful sound that it almost made Dani want to cry.</p><p>The sound reverberated off of the walls and over to the girls, who again were crouched down in pain. A second later, however, they were standing up in confusion and were asking each other what had happened. They noticed Moriana, who's mouth was now closed and was replaced by a peaceful smile again and concluded that it must have been a battle between an evil goddess and a good goddess. They walked out of the darkened room and into the sunlight, ready to see their families again. The only people left in the room were the Doctor, Dani, Moriana, and Faenia, who was still angry.</p><p>"Now, I must take my sister back." Moriana said, grabbing onto Faenia's shackled wrists. "Thank you again for everything."</p><p>"Oh, it was no trouble, really." The Doctor said, cheerfully.</p><p>"And Dani, I'm sorry for all the pain my sister had caused you. I also want you to know that you are in good hands with the Doctor and to keep your spirits up." Moriana continued.</p><p>"Um well, thanks." Dani said. "It was great meeting you."</p><p>Moriana spread her wings and took off up through the ceiling and disappeared, much to Dani's awe. Now it was just The Doctor and Dani left. They walked back out into the bright sunlight, which left Dani blinking as she adjusted to the bright sunlight after being in a dim room for so long.</p><p>"I'm pretty sure that was literally the weirdest things I've ever been through." Dani said as they walked back to the TARDIS.</p><p>The Doctor chuckled. "Well, there's bound to be much more 'weirdness' as you say out there." He unlocked the door and let Dani go in first. "So, where to next?" He asked Dani as he walked over to the console.</p><p>Dani was thinking when she remembered something. "Oh crap! I forgot. I have to go to this ball thing tomorrow."</p><p>The Doctor raised one his eyebrows. "Ball thing?" He asked, amused.</p><p>"Ok, I guess it's more of a former dinner and dance thing. It's put on by this charity that my mom's involved with. They'd sent her an invitation but she can't go, so Andy and I are going in her place and with everything going on, I forgot about it." Dani said.</p><p>"Ah, that's no problem. I can just drop you back off at your apartment the exact same time I picked you up." The Doctor said, putting coordinates in the computer and pulling the levers. The TARDIS made that same wheezing sound, and they were off.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After the TARDIS landed in Dani's living room, she opened the door and stepped out. Everything was in the same place she'd left it. The book was still laying on the sofa and her iced tea was still on the coffee table, with the ice still in it. It amazed her that so much time had passed when they went to Rome, but yet no time had actually passed at all. The Doctor closed the door and stepped out, standing next to Dani.</p><p>"It's just so wild." She said, turning to him. "It seems like we were in Rome for such a long time, but now we're in my apartment and it's exactly the same time that we left."</p><p>"That's time travel for you." The Doctor said, with a wide grin on his face. "You can travel the universe and be back in time for tea. Now. Before I leave I wanted to give you something." He rummaged in his pockets until he found what he was looking for.</p><p>"Aha!" He said, pulling a key out of his pocket and handing it to a very confused Dani.</p><p>"A key?" She asked, looking at it. "What am I supposed to do with it?"</p><p>"It's a key to the TARDIS." He said. "I figured I should give it to you now that you're traveling with me. That is, if you still want to." He was prepared for her to say no. She had been through a lot and he wasn't foolish enough to assume that she'd still want to travel with him.</p><p>"Are you kidding?! Of course I still want to come with you!" Dani exclaimed. "Granted there were a few times there when I may have been regretting it a little bit, but I definitely want to continue traveling with you." She knew in her heart that she could never go back to her normal life.</p><p>"Great!" The Doctor said enthusiastically, excited that he'd still have a companion. He definitely missed having someone else on board after Rose had left. "Well, I should go now, but I'll definitely be back." He said, grinning as he walked back into the TARDIS.</p><p>"And I'll definitely be waiting." Dani said. The Doctor waved before closing the door. Dani watched as the TARDIS dematerialized and sighed with happiness as she sat down on the sofa and picked up her book. She was excited to see where life would take her.</p><p>She woke up the next morning with a grin on her face. Although, part of her was wondering if everything had been a dream. But, then she saw the TARDIS key on the dresser where she'd put it the night before and knew it wasn't a dream. She got out of bed and got ready for work. Even though she and Andy had the ball that night, they were both still working part time that day. After she'd gotten dressed and eaten breakfast, she walked the block to the bookstore and opened up the door. Her mom waved at her as she was talking on the phone with one of the book distributors. Dani waved back and petted Lola, who followed her as she got everything ready. Andy was close behind her and walked in. He started to ask her something, but stopped and looked at her.</p><p>"What?" She asked as he continued staring at her. "Do I have something on me?" She looked at her cloths to make sure there was nothing there, and there wasn't.</p><p>"Nothing. You just look a lot tanner than when I saw you on Saturday." He said suspiciously.</p><p>"So? Maybe I went outside and tanned yesterday." She said defensively. She wasn't about to tell him about Rome. Even though he knew who the Doctor was, she figured she'd ease him into it more, but that wasn't going to happen.</p><p>"Dani. I know you. The only time you tan is when you're at the beach. Now tell me why you're so tan." He said, giving her a look.</p><p>"Fine, I'll tell you." She said, grabbing his shirt sleeve and pulling him out of earshot of her mom. "I went to Ancient Rome with the Doctor." She whispered. "There. Are you happy?"</p><p>Andy looked shocked. "Wait... You actually traveled to another time period?!" He said in a loud whisper, earning a slap from Dani.</p><p>"Yes. Now will you shut up about it? I don't want my mom to know. I don't think she could handle the fact that aliens actually exist and I'm now the traveling companion of one." She hissed, giving him a withering glare.</p><p>"Ok. Fine." He said, shrinking a bit from her glare. "But we are talking about this later."</p><p>"Fine." She said. "Now, what is it you were about to ask me?" She said in a normal voice.</p><p>"Oh yeah. I wanted to know if you wanted me to pick you up for the ball." He said.</p><p>"What? You mean like a date?" She asked, blushing a bit.</p><p>"Not really." He said, also blushing. "I mean, I know you can drive yourself but, I figured since we're both going one of us could save some gas."</p><p>"Um yeah, that'd be great." She said.</p><p>"Ok, I'll pick you up at 7." Andy said, smiling.</p><p>Their awkward interaction was quickly forgotten as the first customer came in. Around 3 pm, they both left, saying goodbye to Dani's mom. They both went their separate ways. Dani was actually getting her hair and nails done for this. She rarely, if ever, dressed up since she never had anywhere fancy to go to, save for being a bridesmaid in weddings, so this was a big deal. After that was done, she went home and had just enough time to get dressed. She was wearing a mint green empire waisted dress with a sweetheart neckline. She was just putting on her heels when there was a knock at her door.</p><p>"Coming!" She yelled, running out of her room and putting her shoes on in the process, almost falling over. She stood back up and opened the door to see Andy there, staring at her.</p><p>"Wow. Uh, you look really beautiful." Andy said stuttering a bit.</p><p>"Um, thanks." Dani said, blushing for the second time that day. "You too." She said. "I mean, you look really handsome." She corrected herself. Andy was dressed in black tie as well and was wearing a bow tie.</p><p>"Thanks." He said, clearing his throat. "We should probably go now."</p><p>"That would probably be a good idea." She said, grabbing her clutch and following him out the door.</p><p>They drove towards the museum where the party was being held in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. After leaving the car with a valet, they walked in (not even noticing the TARDIS) parked beside the museum and gave their names to the woman in charge of the guests. She took their names and told them to have a seat at their designated table. Dani was expecting to have a nice, relaxing time there. What she wasn't expecting was that aliens would somehow be involved, although at this point, she should have been.</p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After dinner, the dancing started. Dani and Andy sat at the table, each of them lost in their own thoughts, wondering if they should even get up and dance. Andy finally broke the silence and asked if Dani wanted to dance. She accepted and they walked to the dance floor. As they were walking to the floor, she thought she spotted a glimpse of brown spiky hair and turned around, but she didn't see anything else.</p><p>"What's the matter? Andy asked, noting Dani's confused expression.</p><p>"For a moment, I could have sworn I saw the Doctor." She said.</p><p>"Hey, just enjoy tonight. Ok? I'm sure everything's fine." Andy said, trying to reassure her.</p><p>"You're right." She said, sighing. "I'm sure I just thought I saw him." Because she thought that if she had seen him, that most likely meant that there was danger afoot.</p><p>What Dani actually didn't know was that she was right. She had actually seen the Doctor. He'd tracked an alien signal to this exact museum that Dani was currently in. He didn't know exactly what kind of alien it was yet, but he was going to find out. After landing the TARDIS, He donned his fancy suit, which included his black chucks, and walked out. After showing the psychic paper to the woman in charge, he casually walked in. He must have arrived later than he realized because when he walked in, there were couples already dancing, which included Dani and Andy. He didn't want to alarm Dani by being there since he knew that she'd figure out that he was there because of an alien invasion. Eventually she'd find out, but he wanted her to enjoy herself. He saw the look on her face when Andy asked her to dance, and felt a pang of sadness in his hearts. That was the same way Rose would look at him every once in a while. He only hoped that they would let their feelings out for each other before it was too late.</p><p>As Dani started dancing with Andy, she thought it was a little bit awkward considering that he was just her coworker and friend, but at the same time there was something oddly comforting about laying her head on his chest and inhaling the icy scent of his cologne. She was wondering if she was starting to have something other than friend feelings for him. Which, again was so crazy because she'd always though of him as just her friend. After a few more dances, they decided to sit the next one out. That is, until someone else asked Dani to dance. To Andy's surprise and chagrin, she accepted. Part of her accepted because she wanted to see what he'd do if she accepted this other guy's offer. Another part of her accepted because as much as she enjoyed being with Andy, she needed to get out of her comfort zone. Before dancing however, Andy took her aside.</p><p>"Are you sure you want to dance with him?" He whispered to her.</p><p>"Yes I do." She whispered back in a defensive voice. "Why are you so concerned who I dance with?"</p><p>"There's just something about him that's off." He said, staring at the guy.</p><p>"Look, I'll be fine, ok? Sometimes it's better to give someone the benefit of the doubt." She said.</p><p>Dani stood up from her seat and let the guy, who introduced himself as Jacob, lead her to the dance floor. As she started dancing with him, however, she started to get an uneasy feeling about him. He kept saying how exquisite she was and what an amazing dancer she was. Which normally wouldn't be a problem, but he kept saying in a creepy way. There was one moment that made her realize that her feelings were correct. During a slow song, she accidentally stepped on his foot with one of her heels.</p><p>"I'm so sorry!" She gasped. "I guess I'm just super clumsy."</p><p>Jacob's eyes flashed a dark red and a lizard like tongue stuck out as he let out an unearthly hiss, but a second later, he went back to normal. "It's alright." He said, smiling. "No pain at all. Now, where were we?"</p><p>Dani narrowed her eyes a bit but composed herself. "Actually, I just got super tired all of a sudden. I think I'm just going to sit this one out. But it was really great dancing with you. Bye!" She waved and quickly ran back to her seat.</p><p>"Ok. I think you're right." She said to Andy, who looked a little bit too pleased with himself.</p><p>"Oh really?" Andy said with a smirk on his face. "Is he too good to be true?"</p><p>"If you mean too good to be true by the fact that he's an alien, then yes. He is." Dani said, trying not to freak one.</p><p>Andy's smirk fell. "Wait. Are you sure, I mean, just because a guy's creepy doesn't mean he's an alien." He said, trying to be logical about this.</p><p>"Ok well how many guys do you know whose eyes literally flash red and they stick a lizard tongue out because you may have accidentally pissed them off? Dani asked.</p><p>"Dani, what did you do?!" Andy groaned.</p><p>"I may have accidentally stepped on his foot with my heel." She said sheepishly, earning a glare from Andy.</p><p>Andy was about to respond when all of a sudden, lights started flickering. There was a murmur through the crowd, but they continued dancing as if nothing was wrong. That is, until a creature burst through the doors. It was a tall, lizards like creature with the same red eyes that Jacob had. Dani looked around furtively, interestingly enough, he was conspicuously absent. The music stopped and people stared screaming as even more lizard like creatures descended on the room.</p><p>"Can't you do something?" Andy asked in wide eyed fear. "I mean, you deal with aliens now. Shouldn't you be an expert?"</p><p>"Ok, dealing with aliens twice before this one does not an alien expert make. I think we know what alien expert we need and I don't think he's currently here at the moment. I wish he was, though. He'd know what to do." Dani said, almost in tears.</p><p>"Well, you're in luck." The Doctor said, popping up behind them and making Dani jump.</p>
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<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Ok, first of all, how did you even know that the lizard creatures were even here?" Dani asked the Doctor, trying to quell her racing heart. "Not only that, how did you get in here?" She started to ask, then figured out how he got in there. "Wait. Never mind. Don't answer the second one. Psychic paper, right?"</p><p>"Yep." The Doctor said, grinning as Andy looked on, confused. "And to answer your second question, I traced their signal in the TARDIS here to the museum. The luridens aren't exactly the smartest race."</p><p>"And they're here because?" Dani asked.</p><p>Before the Doctor could answer however, Jacob (or whoever he was called in his actual form) snuck up and grabbed Dani from behind. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulders. She started yelling in anger and hitting his scaly shoulders as he carried her out of the room with a grunt. She struggled in his arms, but he was much too strong and she couldn't get free. He took her one of the exhibit rooms. She settled for glaring daggers at him. She was getting sick and tired of getting captured and while she didn't know why they wanted her, she knew that like last time, she wasn't going to make things any easier for them. Especially if she knew that she was going to get rescued. The Doctor and Andy would make sure of it. In the meantime, the Doctor and Andy quickly went into action. In the chaos, no one except Andy noticed the Doctor pulling out the sonic.</p><p>"Will that help us find Dani?" Andy asked nervously.</p><p>"It should. If I can find the signal." The Doctor said, fiddling with the sonic. He looked up to notice the worried look on Andy's face. As he looked into the scared man's eyes however, he noticed that it was much more than normal worry. It was the same look he had every time something happened to Rose. The same look he had when he lost her. He knew he had to say something. He put his hands on the young man's shoulders.</p><p>"I promise you that we'll find her and get her back." He said gently to Andy as he patted his shoulders.</p><p>"But what if we don't get there in time?" Andy asked. "If he's already harmed her in any way, I don't know what I'm going to do."</p><p>"We will get there in time." The Doctor said. "Because I've already tracked it. They're in one of the exhibit rooms." He ran out of the room and Andy ran after him to the same exhibit room where Dani was being held captive.</p><p>"Now." The luriden said in a low, raspy voice, putting her down on the floor and clutching her arms with his dry, scaly hands so that she wouldn't get away. "I have you."</p><p>"You don't 'have me' and you never will." Dani said, struggling to get out of the lizards grasp. "What's your deal anyways? Do you just try to use your charm on gullible, innocent human girls and then capture them for your own gain?" She continued, glaring at him.</p><p>"I am Khao Dorg, King of the luridens and I am in need of a queen!" Khao said, his face inches away from her. "And you are the perfect choice to be my queen."</p><p>Dani could feel his hot breath on her face as he leaned close to her. "Yeah. I don't think you'd want me as your queen. I'm not queen material." She said in a controlled voice. "For one thing, I don't dress in fancy clothes all the time, I'm sloppy, I'm way too shy. Oh yeah, and I'm also really clumsy." To demonstrate, she lifted her high heeled right foot and stomped on his foot as hard as she could. "Oops. Sorry." She shrugged. "Like I said, I'm super clumsy."</p><p>Khao hissed and let go of Dani for one second to check on his foot. While he was distracted, she took off running out of the room. To be honest, she was a little bit surprised at her confidence there. She had no idea that she had it in her. As she ran, she could hear Khao yelling that she'd pay for what she'd done. She started running faster (or at least as fast as her heels and dress would let her.) There was a part of her that almost felt like Cinderella when she ran out of the ball, if Cinderella was running away from an insane lizard alien who wanted to make her his queen. Luckily for her, the Doctor and Andy were running towards her. None of them knew that they were going to see each other until Dani turned a corner and saw the Doctor and Andy about to turn the same corner. They were all about literally run into each other until Dani skidded to a stop. Or at least attempted it.</p><p>"Whoa! Hang on there!" The Doctor yelled as he and Andy grabbed each of Dani's arms so she wouldn't fall.</p><p>"Phew. Thanks for that. I was imagining bad things happening there." She said, as she steadied herself with the help of both of them.</p><p>"Ok, two things." Andy said, as they walked back to room where the ball was being held. "1: Why did he capture you. And 2: how did you even escape?"</p><p>"I'd like to know that myself." The Doctor said, intrigued. The luridens were a strong race and he highly doubted that Dani even had the strength to fight him one on one.</p><p>"Ok. To answer your first question. He captured me because he's the king of the luridens and he wanted to make me his queen." Dani said. "Obviously, I wasn't having that, so I decided to stomp on his foot with my heel. That distracted him enough so that he let me go so I could go find you guys. Who knew that heels were actually useful." She grinned at the surprised looks on both the Doctor and Andy's faces. "What? You didn't expect me to just not do anything did you?"</p><p>The Doctor was once again rendered speechless by yet another of his companion's ideas that turned out to have worked out. "That's...quite brilliant." He managed to get out.</p><p>Dani smirked at the fact that she'd managed to make the Time Lord speechless for once. It was a proud moment. Meanwhile, Andy was trying to cope with the fact that the fact that this girl who he'd known for a long time; the girl who hated any type of conflict and who tried to avoid it if she could (even though she could get sassy and fierce when she needed to be), had managed to escape the clutches of a lizard king by stepping on his foot.</p><p>"Where did that even come from?" Andy asked. "I don't ever remember you taking on confrontation and now all of a sudden you're stepping on weird creatures' feet to get away?"</p><p>Dani slapped him on the arm. "Hey. It worked, didn't it?" She retorted. There was an awkward silence for a bit until the Doctor cleared his throat.</p><p>"Anyways." He said. "Why don't we go see what the Luridens are up to, shall we?"</p>
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<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Doctor, Dani and Andy ran into the room just in time to see pure and utter chaos happening. Most of the party-goers were huddling under tables while the luridens were ransacking the room. A few brave souls had stood up and were currently throwing things at them, but the items didn't leave a mark on any of the luridens. It did however, make them angry. One of them picked up a woman who had just thrown a chair and threw her across the room. Dani gasped. It was official. They weren't dealing with a simple alien attack here. Not that she even knew what a simple alien attack was. It seemed to her that it wasn't simple. She only hoped that the woman was ok.</p><p>"So what exactly are we dealing with here?" She asked the Doctor quietly. "What do they want?"</p><p>"They're a military species that utilizes items that they've stolen from other species and then turn those items into weapons to, er..." He trailed off, not sure if he should tell Dani and Andy about what happened after they turned them into weapons. Which was pretty much declaring war on the species and firing at all sides.</p><p>Dani noticed the Doctor hesitating and rubbing his hand on his neck, a sure sign that he didn't want to tell them. "Doctor. Please. Just tell us. What do they use the weapons on?" She said in a scared voice. She was almost regretting asking because she knew the answer would be a bad one, but they had to know.</p><p>"They, er use the weapons on the species." The Doctor finally got out.</p><p>"So all of those weapons were made from items stolen from other species?" Andy asked. "It's impressive, I'll give them that. Messed up, but impressive."</p><p>Dani observed the chaos going around them. There were now even more people laying unconscious on the ground. This was what happened when innocent people tried to stand up to bullies. They get knocked down. Except these bullies weren't humans. These were strong, able bodied lizard men who had no regard for life and only wanted things they could turn into even more weapons. They did it through brute force. She thought it was so wrong that another species could just beat up on a weaker species.</p><p>"We have to do something." She said with a determined face. She wasn't going to let some alien race pick on her own race like that.</p><p>"Don't worry. I have a plan." He said, looking at his companion's determined expression. He did have a plan and he knew exactly who he needed to execute his plan. He dug into one of his jacket pockets, mumbling under his breath. "Aha!" He yelled, pulling something out of the pocket. "Here it is!" He handed it to Dani, who took it hesitantly.</p><p>Dani looked at the odd contraption with intrigue. it was a silver tube shaped contraption with an oddly shaped button at the end. "What is it?" She asked.</p><p>"Well, I haven't thought of a name for it yet, but it dismantles any type of weapon." The Doctor replied.</p><p>"Wait...so are we using that to dismantle all of the luridens' weapons?" Andy asked, as he and Dani suddenly got why the Doctor was telling them all of this.</p><p>The Doctor nodded his head. "But why don't you just use the sonic?" Dani asked. "Couldn't it do the same thing?"</p><p>"Ahh, but this is much faster." The Doctor said, grinning. "It'll dismantle all of them at one time. And, I'm not the one who'll be doing the dismantling."</p><p>Dani was confused. "But if you're not the one who's doing it then who?" Then she looked at it again and realization struck her. "Wait. You want me to do it?"</p><p>"I think you can handle it?" The Doctor said casually. He knew that she could do it. He was starting to notice a change in her since the first time he'd met her. She was starting to become more confident and he thought that maybe this was the little push she needed to get her to full on confidence.</p><p>"Ok..." Dani said hesitantly, wondering why the Doctor wanted her to do it. "But I'm warning you, I've never handled alien gadgets before. It could go horribly."</p><p>"Don't worry. Just press that button on the bottom. The only teeny, tiny thing is that you need to be behind the weapon for it to work."</p><p>"Now you tell me." Dani muttered and took a deep breath. "Ok. Here's hoping I don't get shot at."</p><p>"Are you sure you can do this?" Andy asked.</p><p>She nodded her head. I think so." She said. "It's this or everyone getting killed by weapons made from other items from other species. I have a feeling that that would not go over well."</p><p>"Just be careful, ok? I don't want anything happening to you." Andy said, hugging her.</p><p>"I promise." She said, hugging him back.</p><p>Dani prayed to God that this would work and suck up behind one of the luridens, who was currently distracted barking orders to the other ones. She assumed that he was the military leader, and though that this was the perfect place to start. She was holding the gadget up and was about to press the button, when he let out a huge sniff and turned around. Dani froze as he let out a huge hiss and narrowed his eyes. Her first thought was that she was going to die. He slowly circled her and grinned a slow grin. It was then that she realized that it was Khao.</p><p>"Ahh, the human woman." He said, leering at her. "You would be perfect as my queen."</p><p>"Not gonna happen." Dani retorted, shakily. "I should also let know that one push of this button will kill you dead." She bluffed.</p><p>"Hah! This thing can't kill us!" Khao roared, looking at it in amusement. "And you will not be able to press it anyways. You're weak and pathetic just like your race. That's why I'm offering you this chance to become my queen. You won't have to do anything. Not like you can."</p><p>Dani hesitated. Maybe Khao had a point. Maybe she was weak and pathetic. It's not like she'd ever done anything like this before. For all she knew, she could end up blowing the whole place up. She didn't even know why the Doctor had chosen her to travel with him. She wasn't strong, or brave. She'd never saved people. The Doctor noticed Dani hesitating and knew that somehow, Khao's words were starting to get to her. He knew that he had to prove to her that she wasn't weak.</p><p>"Dani, look at me." He said. Scared, blue gray eyes met compassionate brown eyes as she looked up at him. "Don't listen to him. I know you're scared, but I know you can do this. You are strong and like every other human on this planet you have the ability to do what you need to do. Believe me. I've traveled to earth for many centuries and I've seen what you all are capable of, and you are one of them. I know you have that confidence in you, but you need to see it." He said gently.</p><p>Dani nodded. Maybe it was the situation, or maybe it was because when she looked into his warm eyes, she continued to see so much in this ancient eyes. Whatever it was though, she believed him. He was right. All her life, people had told her that she couldn't do something. She wasn't going to get through school because of her learning disability or she was too much of a wimp. But, she'd proven them wrong. She'd gotten through school and had a college degree. And she'd gotten through because she knew that she could do it. And, even know the Doctor didn't know any of that, he'd known that she could do it. Maybe that was why he asked her to travel. Because he sensed that she just needed a little bit of a push.</p><p>She turned back to Khao, who was laughing with his men and stared at him. He backed up a bit from her hard expression. In a voice filled with steel she spoke.</p><p>"Never EVER tell me I can't do anything!" She said angrily. "Because 9 times out of 10, I will prove you wrong. Oh, and one more thing. Find yourself another queen!" She said, and pressed the button. Dani stood, shocked as shots of electricity shot out and wrapped around each of the luridens' guns and burned them. They hissed and dropped them quickly to the ground. It eventually stopped and she was left holding a smoking gadget.</p><p>"Whoa." She said, staring at it. "That was insane!"</p><p>"What is that technology?!" Khao roared "We must have it!"</p><p>"Oh, sorry. You won't be getting this." Dani said smirking. Khao made to grab it, but Dani threw it to Andy, who caught it and handed it back to the Doctor, who then put it back in his pocket.</p><p>"Who are you?" Khao said, sniffing around the Doctor. "You're certainly not human, because no human could create that technology.</p><p>"I'm the Doctor. Hello!" He said cheerfully. "Now, might I suggest you leave this planet or you'll be getting more than just dismantled guns." He said, a hint of anger in his voice.</p><p>The luridens roared as they disappeared in a puff of smoke, but before they disappeared, Khao promised that they would be back. After they left, there were pieces to pick up. The Doctor, Dani and Andy tried to help clean up as much as they could. As they walked out, Andy couldn't help staring at Dani with an impressed look. He honestly didn't know she had it in her.</p><p>Ok, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I realize that Dani could have used the sonic to dismantle the guns, but I thought it would be more dramatic. Also, I realize this may have been more Dani-centric, but it was crucial to her character development.</p>
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<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
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    <p>"What?" Dani asked, noticing Andy staring at her with a slightly astonished expression on his face.</p><p>"It's just that I've never seen you so take charge like that. It was kind of unnerving." He replied.</p><p>"You're telling me. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. I didn't know that I had it in me." She said as they neared the TARDIS. She turned to the Doctor. "Honestly, if it wasn't for you, I don't think I would have been that brave. So, thanks." She said, hugging him.</p><p>"Ah, well I knew you had it in you." The Doctor said, hugging her back. "You just needed that extra push to help you." He unlocked the TARDIS door and opened it.</p><p>"So I guess this is goodbye for now." Dani said to Andy. "Unless you want to come with us. I mean, if that's ok." She said to the Doctor.</p><p>"I could always use another person on board." He said, grinning.</p><p>Andy shook his head. "I think I've had way too much alien activity to last for a while." He said. "But next time I see you, we have a lot to talk about." He said, hugging Dani.</p><p>Dani hugged him back. "We do. A lot." She said, knowing exactly what it was going to be about. She waved at him as she followed the Doctor inside and closed the door. Andy watched as the TARDIS dematerialized and walked back to his car, thinking about everything that had happened.</p><p>That night, Dani was having trouble sleeping. She tried to fall asleep in the bed in the room that the TARDIS had thoughtfully provided for her. It was very close to her room in her apartment, except the bed was much more comfortable. She wasn't having much luck sleeping, however. Maybe it was because she was actually sleeping in a space ship, but she knew that it wasn't the case. She figured it was most likely her thoughts keeping her up. So much had happened to her tonight and she was afraid that it was just a fluke. That maybe she wasn't as strong as she thought. She tried to quell those thoughts and shut her eyes, breathing in and out and also listening to some relaxing music, but that wasn't helping. She eventually gave up and decided to make herself some relaxing tea in the kitchen. She wasn't exactly sure where it was in relation to her room, but with the help of the TARDIS lighting the hallway, she was able to locate it. She was also able to locate a box of lavender chamomile tea and a mug. She poured the water in the tea kettle and set it on the stove to heat. While she was waiting, she looked around the kitchen. It looked like a regular kitchen, but it didn't really have that used look to it. She wondered how many times it was used, if any.</p><p>In the meantime, the Doctor was fiddling with something underneath the TARDIS. Due to his Time Lord biology, he didn't need as much sleep as Dani did, but even when he did sleep, sometimes he would be plagued with nightmares about the time war or when he lost Rose. It was safe to say that he never slept if he could avoid it, but Dani didn't need to know that right now. It was a bit odd having another person on board so soon after losing Rose. There had been that incident with Donna, but she'd never actually traveled with him so that didn't count. He also knew that Rose wouldn't have wanted him to travel alone. Plus, he knew the TARDIS liked Dani. He did as well. She was definitely spunky and smart, she just needed a little bit more confidence. Speaking of Dani, he was getting a small nudge in the back of his mind from the TARDIS implying that she was currently in the kitchen and that something was bothering her. He figured he should go talk to her, so he got up from underneath the console and walked out of the room and through the hallway into the kitchen, where he found her sitting at the table with a mug of tea.</p><p>Dani looked up from when she heard footsteps and saw the Doctor walking in. "Sorry." She said, a bit sheepishly. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought that a cup of tea would help."</p><p>"I always find that tea solves most things." The Doctor said as he sat down from across Dani. "Wellll, maybe not everything." He conceded, making Dani grin a bit. He could sense however, that she was bothered by something, especially since she went back to staring into her tea. "Is there something you wanted to talk about?" He asked her gently.</p><p>"No." She said quickly. She didn't want to bother him with her problems. The Doctor gave her a searching look however, and with that she ended up relenting. "Well, maybe there is something." She said.</p><p>Dani found herself telling him everything that she'd been feeling. How there was still a part of her that didn't feel like she could do it. How so many people had told her that she wouldn't make it in life just because she had a learning disability and that even though she'd proven them wrong so many times, every once in a while, that voice would come back to tell her that she wasn't smart enough or fast enough or strong enough. It was odd, though. She'd never told anyone how she felt before; not Andy or her mom or anyone really. She'd always kept it inside because she didn't want to bother anyone else with her issues. But for some reason, she'd felt compelled to tell the Doctor. She didn't know exactly why. Maybe it had something to do with his genuine compassion. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that he wasn't actually human. Either way, it did feel good to get that off her chest.</p><p>"Sometimes I just feel like everyone who told me I wouldn't succeed is right." She said, staring into her mug. "Maybe I just got lucky this one time tonight. And maybe that's why I'm so cautious. Because I'm afraid of failing and thus proving everyone right; that I am, in fact a failure." She finished, looking up. Her voice was trembling a bit and her eyes starting to burn with unshed tears that she knew would no doubt fall. No sooner had she said that, they did fall.</p><p>"Trust me, Dani. You're not a failure." The Doctor said kindly, looking into the young woman's tear filled eyes. "You have so much more to offer than you give yourself credit for." He hated to see Dani get down on herself like that. He knew that she was special and important, but he needed to get her to see that. "You humans are capable of so many things. Look at how much you've accomplished already."</p><p>"But that's everyone else. The only thing I've accomplished was graduating from college and that was tough enough also dealing with the learning disability." Dani said, no longer crying. She was still having trouble accepting that she wasn't a failure, however.</p><p>"Look at the individuals in history who struggled and yet still managed to create something wonderful." The Doctor countered. "Take Albert Einstein, for instance. He struggled in school, but he was the one who discovered the theory of relativity. Well, maybe with a little help from me. Interesting chap. Wanted to examine my sonic screwdriver." He realized he was getting a little bit off topic when he noticed Dani's raised eyebrow. "Anyways." He continued. "Just remember that while you may not discover anything like Einstein did, you'll still be able to accomplish great things. I know you have it in you because I saw it tonight. You just have to see it for yourself."</p><p>Dani once again looked into those amazingly young but ancient looking eyes and suddenly got it. If a normal person had said those things, she would have scoffed because she would have thought they'd just said those things to make her feel better even though they might not have truly believed them, but the Doctor wasn't normal. Something about what he said made her believe in herself. What he said to her was so thought-provoking that she did have to have a self-examination of herself and realize that she was being too hard on herself. And he was right. Many people who struggled had made an impact on the world. Who knew, she could be one of them. She knew that she was less scared now, thanks to the Doctor's words. She might still be a little bit cautious and maybe occasionally feel like she couldn't do it, but it wouldn't be as much as it had been.</p><p>"I guess you're right." She said. "I never really thought of it that way. I just need to tell myself that."</p><p>"Ah, I'm sure you can do it." The Doctor said, grinning.</p><p>"Thanks for that talk. It really helped." Dani said, getting up and putting the now empty mug in the sink.</p><p>"My pleasure." The Doctor replied, getting up as well. "I'm always here if you need to tell again."</p><p>Dani said goodnight and walked back to her room. That night, she ended up sleeping better than she had in a long time.</p>
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<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
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    <p>"Look, all I'm saying is that maybe it might not have been the best idea to start spouting off that scientific mumbo jumbo to a crowd of people in the 1600s." Dani said panting, as she and the Doctor ran into the TARDIS and closed the doors quickly, muffling the townspeople's yells of "Witches, Witches!". They'd just come from Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials where they'd both narrowly escaped after being accused of being witches.</p><p>"Scientific mumbo jumbo?!" The Doctor said, a bit insulted. "I was just trying to explain that there was a simple solution to why everyone was acting in that bizarre behavior. The rye was infected with ergot, which causes hallucinations."</p><p>"But it's Salem in the 1600's! They probably thought you were trying to summon satan or something." Dani said, exasperated.</p><p>For someone who was probably one of the smartest people Dani knew, the Doctor could be a little bit dense sometimes. Somehow it didn't come into his brilliant mind that talking about scientific things to a town that was so engrained in its belief that there were demonic forces at work was a good idea. Which, clearly it wasn't considering the fact that they'd been chased by angry townspeople. Although, that wasn't the worst thing that had happened since she'd started traveling with him a month ago, but it still didn't help matters.</p><p>"Ah well, you do have a point." The Doctor said, reluctantly agreeing with Dani. He really hated when he was wrong, but at least this time he knew when to admit it, however much he didn't want to. "Now that I think about it, I may have been a teensy bit over exuberant in my summation that they would listen to me."</p><p>"Ya think?" Dani said sarcastically. "Now, can we please leave before they try to barge in here? Because I would actually like to live long enough to get back to my time period."</p><p>"Right, then!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Where would you like to go?" He said, looking up at his companion.</p><p>"Anywhere as long as it doesn't involve angry townspeople." Dani replied</p><p>"I've got the perfect place." The Doctor said, grinning. "How does Neptune in the year 2964 sound?"</p><p>"Wait. Neptune? As in the planet?" Dani asked, very confused. The Doctor nodded, still grinning. At the Doctor's grin, Dani started to get excited again. "Sounds like a plan to me." She said, feeling a grin lighting up her face. Since she started traveling with him, she'd been to the past and the future, but she hadn't been to another planet yet.</p><p>"Allons-y!" The Doctor yelled. He pulled the lever and off they went.</p><p>"So, how does the whole breathing thing work on Neptune?" Dani asked as they traveled through space and time.</p><p>"Well, your lot perfected space travel oh, about 500 years into your future, which includes landing on other planets." The Doctor explained as he continued flipping levers and pressing buttons. "So, at this point, humans have acclimated to the climate and are now living happily on Neptune's surface."</p><p>"I just... Wow. That's amazing. Dani said, shaking her head. The fact that the human race had become that advanced amazed her and gave her some hope for the future.</p><p>The Doctor chuckled at his companion's expression as the TARDIS landed with its usual groan. "Ah good, we've arrived!" He said, looking at the monitor. "And at the right time! Love when that happens."</p><p>"Which doesn't happen very often, does it?" Dani asked, smirking.</p><p>"More than I care to admit." The Doctor said as he grabbed his trench coat. "Now, come on then!" He said as he opened the TARDIS door.</p><p>Dani grinned with excitement as she peeked outside. Before she met the Doctor, she never, in her wildest dreams, thought that she'd go to a different planet. Now here she was, looking out at Neptune, in a different century, no less. She didn't think she'd ever get used to going to different places. In that instant, she knew that her life would never be boring again. Not that her old life was super boring, but compared to it now, it was a little bit boring. Yet again, she thought of how much her life has changed. Before everything had happened, she wouldn't even climb a rock wall because she was afraid of heights and afraid of falling. Now here she was, probably light years away from earth, traveling space with an actual alien. She marveled at how unexpected life could be.</p><p>The Doctor noted his companion's pensive expression and closed the door. "Everything ok?" He asked her.</p><p>"Yeah I'm fine." Dani said, looking at him. "I was just thinking that when they say to get out of your comfort zone, I don't think they mean traveling to other planets...or to other time periods for that matter."</p><p>"Ah. Well that haven't met me yet, have they?" The Doctor replied winking at her as he opened the door again.</p><p>"Fair point." Dani said, peeking out the door before they ventured out.</p><p>Since they weren't actually out of the TARDIS yet, she couldn't see all of it, but what she could see, amazed her. She could see all walks of people walking around. Never in a million years would she think that people could actually live on planets. The Doctor opened the door fully, letting Dani go first, and followed her out.</p><p>"So. Dani Burkhard. As the first 21st century human to land on another planet, what do you think?" The Doctor asked his companion, grinning.</p><p>"I think... I think I'm really cold." Dani said, shivering. She crossed her arms around each other. Granted, she was wearing a tank top, but she wasn't really thinking that they'd be headed to anywhere cold today.</p><p>"Ah. Sorry about that. Should have warned you about the cold temperatures." The Doctor said apologetically. Now that he thought about it, it probably would have been a good idea to let her know that it was going to be cold.</p><p>"I'm going to get a coat." She ran back into the TARDIS and went to the wardrobe room, where she found a warm enough coat. After donning said coat, she ran back out.</p><p>"Better now?" The Doctor asked Dani, who was now clad in a puffy coat.</p><p>"Much." She said. The Doctor closed the door to the TARDIS and they ventured out onto the cold planet's surface.</p>
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